Persona: Be Your True Mind
by BarryBurt0n
Summary: COMPLETE! FINAL CHAPTERS UP! A novelization of SMT Persona of the MegaTen Series. Some scenes are inspired from the manga with the same subtitle and I have some of my own scenes, dialogues, and a few additions mixed in. Enjoy, I promise I'll see this through to the end.
1. Chapter 1: Persona

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything.

_The title of this fan fiction actually comes from the opening theme of the original Persona as well as the subtitle of the manga. Now, I know this is the first instance on fan fiction. net of a novelization of the very first Persona game of the Megaten series. I promise, I won't abandoned this, I might occasionally take breaks and may work on other projects, but I will not abandoned this story, short of my account being closed or my computer dying. For the record, I'm going to stock chapters up an upload one chapter on a weekly basis if I can. I plan to have the novelization to last thirty straight chapters, unfortunately I'm excluding the Snow Queen Quest due to the fact I couldn't find a necessary place within the story to place in it to make it relevant to the plot. The beginning and introduction are partially inspired by the manga, but Chapter 6 is were the scenes from the manga are less mirrored and I'll be supplying my own fights and traversing through dungeons. The M.C. will be named Naoya Todo, as he is in the manga. I originally wanted to make the novel entirely in his perspective, but I'd rather focus mostly on everyone, yes I'm putting all nine party members through the plot, Yukino is there because I'm excluding the SQQ. Now with the long, boring introduction aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind Chapter One._

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><p><em>Chapter One: Persona<em>

_Once, I dreamt I was a butterfly._

A featureless butterfly, colored purely yellow, emitting an orb of light, slowly flew through an open window into a hospital room.

_I forgot myself and knew only my happiness as a butterfly. Soon, I awoke and I was myself again._

A castle constructed of toy blocks rested on a side table next to the unoccupied bed in the vacant hospital room. The butterfly flew above the pinnacle and as the seconds ticked by following the creature's pass, the blocks making the center tower shook and fell forward.

_Did I dream I was a butterfly?_

_Or do I now dream I am a man?_

In the city of Mikage, a student, wearing the St. Hermelin High School traditional gray khakis and long sleeved buttoned shirt with the St. Hermelin insignia marked on the left breast, sat in the arcade called Judgment 1999 in the Mikage Mall. The boy brushed his wavy black locks out of his eye and fiddled with the plain earring in his left ear.

_Yet there is a distinction between myself and the butterfly. This is transformation of the physical._

_-Zuangzi_

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

The city of Mikage is home to St. Hermelin High School and the SEBEC Corporation Headquarters. The city is big enough to have industry and a life of its own, but not large enough to be drowning in murder, theft, and general crime.

St. Hermelin High School was currently preparing for the School Cultural Festival, the actions of the students being watched by both Principle Ooishi, sporting her big glasses and oldies hairstyle, and the strict and rule-enforcing Vice-Principle Hanya with his colorless mullet, balding peak, and wrinkled flesh.

Since the cultural festival is in the coming days, a handful of students, total: seven, occupied an empty classroom to work on their projects for the festival. The classroom had no desks, cardboard boxes sealed up and set aside to gather dusts. The windows were covered up by a thick cloth, preventing any light from seeping in.

The seven students, all mutual friends, had stopped their work and crafting at the proposal of a game which could predict your future.

The student was named Hidehiko "Brown" Uesugi, his gray jacket unzipped, a purple undershirt with a red spade on the center beneath it, and his pants tucked into bright red boots. His fingers were lined with rings. His fiery red hair formed a large curving bang which fell over the pair of shades he placed on his forehead. Hidehiko was a brash and cocky student. He craved attention and never took anything seriously.

He proposed the game called "Persona" to another student. This student wore a yellow tuque with an eye-like design on the front, a oversized decorative earring on his left air, and droplet-like markings under his eyes. This student was Masao "Mark" Inaba, the spoiled son of Inaba's Dry Cleaning Service. He was graffiti artist, loved to dance, and was always earnest and excitable.

"Persona?" Masao repeated. "Dude, if that really worked and I see my future, I'd be on easy street." Masao shoved his hands in his pockets, his yellow backpack still around his back from the end of school.

"You sure you ain't got brain rot, Hidehiko?" Masao asked with a grin.

Hidehiko replied with a chuckle. "Hehehe….Turns out there's more to it than an easy joke!" A smug expression was always on Brown's face.

"Maybe not seeing the future, exactly, but weird stuff does happen!" he insisted.

Mark sighed. "Alright…you're on. I bet you an all-you-can-eat dinner at Peace Diner on Joy Street."

An air headed, blonde, pigtailed female student jumped in glee. "Woo! I'm with Hidehiko!"

The student was Yuka Ayase, a troublemaking member of the suntanned, bleach-blonde kogal set. Her outward cheerfulness maked her popular with the guys. However, her fondness for lying and being painfully frank got her into trouble often. She wore a long-sleeve blue jacket with a green stripe near the bottom over her normal gray top with a blue and a white striped tie. She wore matching high socks to her jacket.

A pony tailed student added, "I throw my lot in with Brown, too."

She was Eriko "Elly" Krishima, a ladylike student, who recently returned from abroad. She was quite beautiful and intelligent. She came from a wealthy family and had been studying overseas for most of her life, but chose to finish her education in Japan. She was one of the most popular girls in St. Hermelin. Her hair was a deep red which she tied into a ponytail which was the length of her back. Her bang fell to the right side of her face. She wore the basic uniform for girls at St. Hermelin, except with a orange neckerchief tied around her neck.

Masao's jaw dropped. "Are you guys serious?"

Masao turned away from Hidehiko, Eriko, and Yuka in front of him to the last three students.

"Yo, Kei, Yukino, Nao! Who you guys gonna side with?"

"Hmph! As if I care one bit. It's absolutely bunk." A glasses-wearing student replied sourly.

Kei Nanjo was the heir to the Nanjo Group. He was pragmatist, skeptic, and a well-meaning snob. He wore a trademark blue scarf around his neck with a huge number one printed on it. His ebony black hair was mostly slicked back with a few strands sticking forward or upward crookedly.

"What he said. This is all you." The last remaining female student replied.

Yukino Mayuzumi was trusted by everyone and was like an older sister to everyone. She was a reformed yanki and is treated as a mother-figure to her friends. Her shady blue hair was ruffled, a hairclip firmly attached to the left side of her hair. The back of it reached the bottom of her neck. She wore the standard uniform for St. Hermelin girls.

Masao's sweat dropped at the statements of Nanjo and Yukino. He sighed again. "Ugh! You guys are so cold, y'know?"

Masao turned to the last remaining male student. He wore the basic uniform for boys, his hair was wavy and colored a jet black. He wore a plain earring in his left ear. Naoya "Nao" Todo fiddled with his earring as Masao addressed him.

"Hey, Nao, who're you with? It's gotta be me, right?" Masao asked begging.

Naoya smiled, pulling out a bill. "Of course! One-sided bets are boring!"

Masao glowed with happiness. "Thank you, Nao!"

"Heeheehee…This'll be fun!" Hidehiko exclaimed. "Awright, let's get started!"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

To set up for the game, Kei, Naoya, and Yukino were told to stand in the middle of the empty classroom. Their backs to each other in a triangle formation. Masao, Eriko, Hidehiko, and Ayase were to stand against the corners of the room, bottom left, bottom right, top left, and top right respectively.

"Isn't this exciting now?" Eriko asked with a smile.

Naoya shoved his hands in his pockets and arced his head back. "Didn't peg you for someone into cult-like stuff, Eriko."

Eriko casually waved her hand. "Oh, I merely admire it."

"Okay, quite everyone!" Hidehiko shouted. He turned to Ayase on his left. "Okay, Ayase, begin like I told you."

Ayase put her arms behind her head. "'Kay! Here goes!" Ayase murmured to herself, momentarily forgetting what Brown had told her. "Ummm. Like, Persona! Persona! Please come here!"

Ayase slowly treaded across the carpet to Brown's recently turned back. She patted her hands on his shoulders, causing him to speak up. "My turn! Persona! Persona! Come here!"

Brown eagerly dashed to Masao's back, whose head was hung in embarrassment. "Man, why do I gotta do this?"

Brown firmly patted Masao's shoulder, yelling in his ear, "Hurry it up! All-you-can-eat! All-you-can-eat!"

Masao soon gave in. "Okay, okay…Persona, Persona. C'mere…I guess."

Masao sluggish marched himself to Eriko's back, patting her swiftly.

"Well, then…Persona! Persona! Please come to us!" Eriko elegantly waltzed to the unoccupied corner, previously taken by Ayase.

Brown immediately pierced the tiny amount of silence. "Alright! Here it comes!"

The silence returned and the students' eyes aimlessly wandered everywhere possible in the empty room to see some sort of sign that the ritual to the game worked and the Persona would appear to tell them the future. Several seconds rolled by until a full minute had passed without a single thing out of the ordinary happening.

Brown's smug grin changed to a wide-eyed disappointment. "H-huh?"

The seven crowded back together in the middle of the room. Ayase approached Hidehiko and pursed her lips in a pout.

"Hidehiko! You jerk! Now I look like a total idiot!" she wined.

Masao approached him next. "See? A fat load o' nothing." Masao regained his usual excited expression. "Hehe…Looks like Nao and I win."

Yukino shook her head and sighed. "Happy now? Hurry up and go get the teacher so we can set-up our projects."

Brown's sweat dropped and he backed himself against a wall of boxes. The perspiration was visible on his forehead. He stuttered a retort to the turn of events. "W-wait! Hold up! One more time! Please! Mark screwed it up! C'mon, you gotta take it seriously when you do it."

"Interesting that your lecturing Mark on taking things seriously, Brown." Naoya stated. Hidehiko was never serious, he'd always crack jokes and say anything to draw a crowd or focus the attention towards him.

"Yeah, Nao's right. You're such a sore loser, Hidehiko!"

Kei fixed his glasses back on the bridge of his nose. He thought himself above squabbles between two idiots. He thought if he made a statement the two monkeys would shut up and everything would be settled.

Kei opened his mouth to speak, but noticed a flash of white out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head, the rest still distracted by the argument. From the light, near where the chalkboard stood, emerged a little girl, no more than six years old, in a spectral form. The ritual they performed had harkened a ghost to the classroom? The spectral girl's hands were by her face, rubbing at her eyes.

Kei's eyes widen and his mouth fell agape. "W-what is that?" he stammered, pausing between each word.

Naoya noticed Kei's change in behavior. "Yo, Kei, you all right?"

Masao starred at Nanjo. "It's too late now, Nanjo, to-" The loud sound of a child's crying pulled the teenagers head to were the spectral girl stood, like a magnet.

"H-h-help me!" she cried.

The seven stood still in frozen postures, until a crackled noise echoed around them. Visible electricity traveled through the walls, up to the ceiling through the lights. All the while the ground started to shake violently.

"What the?" Masao cried out.

"The hell is happening?" Naoya finished.

Their heads darted back in forth, keeping track of a huge streak of pseudo-lightning jumping back in forth between the ceiling lights. A powerful wind blew into the classroom and circled the students whipping their hair and loose clothing around. It was like a natural disaster was taking place within the surrounding exclusively.

Eriko raised her hands under her chin, frighten. "_I don't remember it happening like this last time._"

Ayase used her hands to anchor down her skirt from being thrown up by the wind.

Brown assumed a fettle position and laid on the floor.

Kei tried to regain his composure. He had to get control over the situation, but something was missing. He counted heads in a matter of seconds. Five, excluding him, whose missing. He shot his head to the left. Yukino was laying on her side. The lightning must've struck her.

"_No!_" Kei thought quickly moving towards her, everyone attentions attracted to his sudden motion. "Yukino!"

The lightning jumped from the ceiling and struck Kei on the head, collapsing him over Yukino. Naoya and Masao moved towards them, but the lightning flew down off the ceiling and struck them into unconsciousness as fast as it did to Kei.

The four students never actually felt electrocuted. In fact, they felt no pain at all. At the contact of the lightning bolts to their craniums, they found their muscles relaxed and fell into a deep sleep, as if they were knocked into the border between consciousness and unconsciousness.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Naoya fell through space itself, following after a featureless yellow butterfly, emitting an orb of yellow light. Naoya's surroundings were a distortion of black and blue, gears and cogs turning and spiraling around him as he descending further and further down the "rabbit's hole."

"Where the hell am I?" he asked himself.

The distortion vanished and Naoya landed on a circular platform, made of marble, six bronze pillars erected on it. The entire platform actually was hovering in a void of blue.

Naoya examined the new environment.

A man, wearing an ivory white suit, with lengthy coattails, a matching mask with a butterfly wing mark on the right eye area bowed with his left arm behind his back and his right under his stomach. The man wore his black hair in a ponytail which wavered to the side by a minor breeze.

"W-what?"

The stranger rose back. His spoke in a calm, masculine voice. "Welcome. It is a pleasure to meet you."

Naoya pinched his arm to see if he could wake up from whatever the hell this place was, be it a dream or his own consciousness.

"Who are you?" Naoya asked, slightly hesitant, being put off by the blank eyes on the mask.

"I am Philemon, a dweller between consciousness and unconsciousness."

"Consciousness and unconsciousness?" Naoya titled his head to the side in confusion. What the hell was this guy talking about?

"And now for you, I have a simple test. Can you state your name?"

"_What kinda test is that._"

"Easy, Naoya Todo." Naoya answered without any hesitation, feeling more less disconcerted by the surroundings and the strange man known as Philemon.

A change in Philemon's expression couldn't be seen because of the mask. All the man did was nod his head. "Splendid. There aren't many who can remember their identity when within this domain. It seems you've passed that test."

"Wasn't even really a test." Naoya said under his breath.

Philemon pointed at Naoya, then crossed his arms. "But tell me this: Are you aware of them many and varied selves you harbor within you."

"Many selves within myself? Now I know I must be dreaming."

"The self effused with divine love. The self capable of demonic cruelty. People live by wearing different masks. Your current self, may be only one of those innumerable masks."

Naoya touched his face with his hand. He firmly rubbed the whole right side of his face, feeling the partial warm and cold sweat. "_My current self, may be only one of many other selves. So, I'm not really me. What is he talking about?_"

Philemon pointed again at Naoya. "You though, you have a very firm grip on your identity." Philemon extended and bent his hand to the side, as if holding a tray. A yellow light shined dully in his open palm. The shine died and the light subsided to reveal a crouched, miniature figure in Philemon's hand.

The figure was purely a murky blue. The arms and legs were decorated with chipped and carved rock-like gauntlets and boots with a matching hair-dress. Nao studied it closer. The gauntlets, boots, and hair dress were physical part of the muscular figure's body. The feet barefoot, the palms clenched, the head tucked into the nape of the neck, the arms positioned across the torso, and the blank, colorless, iris-less eyes gazing into Naoya's soul.

Naoya gulped, vigorously feeling his face.

"In return, I grant you this power: Persona. It is the power to summon the selves within you."

The miniature dispersed. Philemon crossed his arms.

"The power to summon the gods and demons you harbor. The time is soon when you will need this power. Now, you must return, Naoya Todo, to your proper time and place."

"Wait. I still have questions." Naoya's body lifted off the ground on it's own, leisurely being tug backward into a new distortion in the blue.

"Do not worry, Naoya Todo. I will be watching over you and your friends."

With Philemon's last words, Naoya's eyelids grew heavier and he found himself going into the familiar feeling of sleep as he slipped into the crack in the blue abysse, darkness washing over him.

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><p>Phew! I hope you guys enjoy this. Now, I know most of the dialogue was taken from Shin Megami Tensei: Persona, but their will be plenty of scenes which I will have to write my own dialogue and banter for as well as create dialogue for existing cut scenes and etcetera for not only Naoya, but Yukino because she technically not suppose to be their. As for pairings, I'm not really planning to have stuff like that in this, but that is still debatable, but the definite pairings will be Masao and Maki (I think it's more there, then M.C. and Maki), Eriko and Naoya (It's more there in the manga), and partially Yukino and Kei (I find it odd he specifically you goes to Yukino, especially since he never really in the game shows too much emotional concern for ANYONE, but one person in particular. I might be making something small into something large, but if you think about Yukino and Kei are like the mother and father of the group, because Kei takes everything seriously and understands, processes, and explains the story.) Either way guys, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, the next chapter will cover probably a quarter of Mikage Hospital and then chapter three will be the rest of it. So, see you in Chapter Two: Mikage Hospital.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2: Mikage Hospital

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything._

I appreciate the feedback and comments received on the first chapter by RaidEye. I'll be sure to try to weave the appearances and personalities of new characters into the text for upcoming chapters. As for dialogue, for the most part for major cut scenes from the game, I'll stick mostly to what is written or said, example: Philemon, but I'm going to try to improvise for certain scenes and as said before I'm still going to have to invent my own, not only for Yukino and Naoya, but for the others at times. Now with that aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind Chapter 2.

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><p><em>Chapter Two: Mikage Hospital<em>

The weight on Naoya's eyes lighten, hearing familiar voices around him.

"So you guys had the same dream?" Mark asked.

"Indeed. It's rather extraordinary." Kei replied.

"Think he's seeing it now too?" Yukino pondered.

Naoya's lunged forward, his eyes snapped open. He realized he was laying down in a rickety bed, a sheet laid on him. Kei, Masao, and Yukino were at the left side of his bed.

"Yo, Nao, you're awake!" Masao gave his trademark smile.

Kei folded his arms and turned his head, his chin put up. He detested Masao and his enthusiasm. The two had equally opposite personalities.

"Did you meet him?"

Naoya touched his face, taking in Kei's words. He gulped.

"Philemon. Yeah"

"He talked about the many selves within yourself?" Yukino asked.

Naoya nodded, recalling the statement previously made by the strange man.

"Oh, Naoya, you've come around!"

The womanly voice came from the other end of the room. Naoya then realized he was in the infirmary. Eriko, Brown, and Ayase probably hailed down a teacher in the hall to carry the lightning-stricken students to the infirmary to be treated by, Nurse Natsumi Yoshino, the owner of the voice who called Naoya's name.

The tall, buxom Nurse Natsumi wore a tight-fitting blouse, her cleavage clearly exposed. As she moved to the bottom of Naoya's bed, she put her lab coat on, and brushed her curly brown hair behind her ears.

"You know, you sure look cute when you're asleep, Naoya."

Naoya blushed. Natsumi was quite the flirt with all male students.

Masao cracked his neck. "_Nao doesn't even have to try to get chicks._" Of course, Masao all ready had a crush on a specific student at St. Hermelin High. He hoped he'd muster enough courage to confess his feelings to her eventually.

The door to the infirmary slammed open, a blue-haired teacher rushing in. "Naoya! Are you all right?" The teacher panted removing her yellow jacket off her shoulders.

"He's fine Ms. Saeko. He just woke up." Yukino informed.

"Thank goodness! I was so scared when I heard you four had collapsed."

Ms. Saeko Takami was the homeroom teacher of the seven students who played the game known as Persona. She was quite popular with the students in St. Hermelin, due to the fact she was the only teacher on the faculty who liked her students.

"I recommend they go to the hospital for a checkup on the way home." Nurse Natsumi stated.

Ms. Saeko regained her normal breathing rate. She held her hand close to her chest.

"I'm sorry you had to deal with my students, Natsumi."

Masao cringed a little. "C'mon, taking care of students is her job. What's so wrong about us?"

Yukino gritted her teeth. She never liked when people talked back to Ms. Saeko. Saeko Takami saved Yukino during her time when she was a member of a gang. She owed a lot to her, including her own life.

"Mark! You and Brown are the reason why all this happened!" Yukino scolded, her hands clutching the air in the irritation.

Masao playfully half-smiled, scratching the back of his head.

"Come on, Teach, do something!"

"Yukino is right, Masao! I want you to think about what you've done!"

Masao ran to the other side of the bed to prevent Yukino from throttling him.

"_Shit! I forgot how scary, Yukino is when she's angry!_"

"Anyway, Eriko and Ayase told me what happened. No helping out for the cultural festival preparations today!"

"Do we honestly have to go to the hospital, Ms. Saeko?" Naoya innocently asked.

"Yes."

"I've all ready called your respective homes and told them you will be heading to the Mikage Hospital." Natsumi said matter-of-factly.

"Do you really think something is wrong with us, too, Ms. Saeko?" Yukino also asked, taking a shot at Masao.

"Hey!" Masao cried out, slightly hurt by Yukino's words, cutting off his homeroom teacher.

"Let Ms. Saeko speak, monkey!" Kei spat.

Masao bit his lip. Kei had the habit of referring to individuals as monkeys, because he thought his intelligence was higher than anyone elses'. Kei's habit pissed Masao off.

"Shut the hell up, Nanjo!"

The two heated students appeared ready to charge at each other head-first. Naoya being between them, on the bed still, slapped his palms on their chests.

"Stop it you two!" Naoya usually played mediator when Masao and Kei argued.

"Ahem!" Ms. Saeko said out loud, drawing the attention of the students back to her. "I can tell you by looking at you all that you're perfectly sane, but Natsumi and I are worried you might have gotten hurt while collapsing, so go see the doctor."

Speaking for everyone, Yukino replied "Alright, Ms. Saeko, we'll go."

"Mentioning Mikage Hospital," Natsumi spoke up. "Wasn't a student in your class staying there?"

Masao blushed. "You mean, Maki, right?"

Nao rolled his eyes. Masao may not be able to speak his emotions, but his expressions gave them away all the time.

Naoya lived by Maki Sonomura. They were childhood friends, just friends, he personally thought Maki liked him, but it didn't matter to him at the time. Adding to that, Masao liked her, and Naoya and Masao were good friends, so he didn't want to get in the way of a possible relationship. If only Mark could say "I like you, Maki" with his face.

"Yes, that's right. You should visit her while you're there." Ms. Saeko replied. "She's been laid up there for over a year now. I'm sure she's lonesome."

Masao face brightened up. "Naw, Teach! I visit her at least once every month."

"_And Maki still hasn't taken notice to his affection?_" Naoya thought.

"You're going!" Ms. Saeko ordered firmly, her hands on her hips.

"Let's go cheer her up!" Yukino added. "I can't take being cooped up in her longer."

"Let us be on our way then." Kei said in a commanding tone. "Naoya, hurry up, I wish to be done with this before sunset."

"_That's Kei for ya, acting like the big-bad adult in the situation._" Naoya thought.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

The four students hit the streets of Mikage. The quiet and peaceful streets. The walk to Mikage Hospital wasn't to far. It would take fifteen minutes total.

Kei hmphed.

"What's the matter, Nanjo?" Masao pulled the straps on his backpack. "Fifteen minutes not short enough for ya?"

"I'm not in the mood for idle prattle, Masao."

Mark flipped him off. "Screw you, Nanjo."

"Why don't we discuss Philemon?" Naoya proposed.

"The little girl we saw in the classroom must be connected to him." Kei reminded them of the crying apparition.

"She said help me." Naoya touched his earring. He usually found doing this helped him focus and calmed him down.

"Wonder what she meant." Masao put his arms behind his head.

"Philemon's words intrigue me." Kei cupped his chin to think. "He said the time where we'll need the Personas will come soon. Perhaps, the little girl wants our help with this upcoming predicament. Purely speculation at this point."

"Fits," Nao paused. "Sorta. After we visit Maki and get checked out, might as well go home and forgot it happened."

"Naoya is right. Maybe the whole event was an illusion."

"Nanjo, friggin' lightning shot out of the ceiling and struck each of us down! How the hell is any of that considered an illusion?"

"Keep walking, monkey."

Masao ruffled his hat, nearly chucking it to the ground. "You piss me off, Nanjo."

"Likewise, monkey."

Yukino and Naoya sighed.

"Well, to be fair, I agree with Masao." Yukino walked in between the two. "I mean, didn't Chisato Kasai and Yosuke Naito go missing recently? Isn't that kinda odd."

"You pose an interesting point, Yukino."

Masao tilted his head, forgetting his argument with Kei. "Wasn't Chisato one of Maki's friends?"

"Yeah." Naoya answered, knowing how much time Chisato and Maki spent together. "Yosuke was her boyfriend." Yosuke was also Maki's crush, much to Chisato's dismay.

"The school said they haven't showed up to class for a month and their parents last saw them back around the same time." Yukino informed.

"It is entirely possible the two eloped." Kei suggested.

"Or it might be related to what happened."

Masao turned his head to agree with Naoya, noticing a book under his arm.

"Nao, where'd you grab the book."

Naoya looked down, almost not recalling why he brought it along.

"Yuko ask me on the way out to return the book to Maki."

Yuko was another good friend of Maki's. The two would share many different objects and intimate secrets.

Masao examined the book, titled The Gates of Paradise and colored white. "The Gates of Paradise, huh? Maki loves this book."

"She painted a painting based on the book for the art contest, too." Yukino added.

"Yuko borrowed it like two months ago." Naoya chuckled a bit.

Masao blushed a little bit, inside he was green with envy. "_Lucky bastard. I wanted to do something nice for Maki, like giving her back her favorite book._"

Naoya put the book in Masao's open hand. "_Maki loves me enough. We're childhood friends, but Mark can probably use this chance to make her happy._"

"You give it to her, Mark. She'll like it."

"Thanks, Nao. I owe you one, man." Masao extended his hand.

"You owe me more, but whatever." Naoya gave Masao the high-five.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Mikage Hospital's atmosphere was pleasant. The dozens of benches in the lobby were not filled with sickly Mikage residents. The air was fresh and the mood homey, a adequate feeling.

The four St. Hermelin students checked in and sat together on one bench by the automatic doors to wait to be called. Afterwards they would see Maki in her room.

The automatic doors, made a mechanic noise, indicating their opening. An aged man in butler attire bolted into the hospital. He veered towards the bench were the students were seated. He halted in front of Kei, tears pouring out of his eyes, visible through his thick framed glasses.

"YOUNG MASTER!" He yelled in a throaty voice.

Kei blushed, his eyes expanding. "Yamaoka!"

"Young master, I'm at an adversity. I thought your safety was compromised, young master."

Kei rose to his feet, aggravation clearly displayed on his face. "I told you to stop calling me that many times now!"

"Young master, even if you say you're with your friends, if your condition is so serious that you need to be checked out in a hospital, how can I possible go home by myself!" Yamaoka continued to sob, his sorrow frankly exhibited.

"As a butler of the Nanjo Family, this Yamaoka, has been appointed to take care of Young Master Kei for seven-teen years already! There hasn't been a moment where I wasn't concerned for your well-being! Please don't ask me to do something so shameful!"

Much to Kei's chagrin, Yukino and Masao laughed till there faces turned red.

"Young master!" Yukino covered her mouth, trying to stifle her uncontrollable mirth.

"That is friggin' hilarious, Nanjo! Young master! Fuckin' priceless!" Masao obnoxiously sustained his laughter.

Kei's face crimson, swung open a door in the lobby to a hallway. "Todo, I don't care anymore! We're seeing Maki, now!" Kei's usual cool and sophisticate tone had shattered, replaced with a creaky, discomfited tone.

Kei absconded to the lobby, ordering Yamaoka to stay there.

Yukino followed, with Naoya right behind her, dragging Masao, still hysterically laughing, by his backpack.

Yamaoka dried his tears with a handkerchief, sniveling, and then proceeded to twiddle his thumbs.

"Young master,"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

At the highest floor of Mikage Hospital, in room 302, a brunette teenage girl dressed in pink pajamas laid in bed, her skin a unhealthy pale shade. A chair was placed beside the bed in case of a visitor, but instead the chair was occupied by a teddy bear.

The bear, bought by her friends to help cheer her up, emulated Maki Sonomura, except it sat instead of laid. Maki felt trapped inside her body, in a stuffy hospital room, in her sicken form, unable to move, and no longer aesthetically pleasing. Her rosy cheeks no longer a rouge. Her painted lips, arid and cracked. Her brown hair, currently with split ends and lacking the red ribbon she usually tied. Her boisterous and bubbly personality killed and lost.

Besides the bear, Maki was lonesome. No one had come to visit her lately. Her mother, Setsuko Sonomura, an incredibly diligent worker at SEBEC, worked so many hours, she didn't have any time to visit her daughter. As the number of days that Maki would be put in the hospital throughout her sixteen years of life increased, the number of days Setsuko could see her daughter were abated.

Maki never realized during the huge amount of times she had to stay months in the hospital, how enervating it could be. She sighed, hopeful for something extenuating to happen, to elevate her spirits, fortify her current state of mind, and rid her room of the mundane environment.

Maki's ears perked up. The door to her room opened, revealing the smiling faces of Masao, Naoya, Yukino, and Kei.

Maki's dry lips parted in a minor smile. "Naoya! You all came! Thanks! You're so thoughtful, Masao!"

Masao raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" Kei asked.

"I told Masao I wanted to see everyone when he was here last time. Isn't that why you all came?"

Yukino approached her, feeling disgusted at their own motives. "Yes, it is. Oh, and Masao has a book Yuko borrowed."

"Oh, yeah! Here, Maki." Masao handed her the book.

"Oh, thank you, Masao!" Maki wanted to hug him, but her body ached too much to lift her back or limbs. "I love The Gates of Paradise. I've read it so many times, I almost have it memorized."

"So, how've you been?" Yukino wanted to change the subject. "You doing okay?"

Maki, inside, lost her smile. She didn't want her friends to worry. She decided to lie. "Uh-huh. I'm doing much better. I wonder if it's because of that good dream."

"A good dream?" Naoya asked.

"It's hard to remember, but I keep dreaming of a really nice man. He's like a father…"

"A father," Nao repeated. "_Maki lost her father in a car accident._"

"We met your doctor to help us find your room." Yukino explained. "Is he like the man in your dream? He seemed nice."

Maki's head sunk. "I don't like him."

Masao looked concerned. "Did he do something to ya! If he did, I'll kick his ass!"

"No, not at all, Masao. I just don't like doctors."

"Well, let's talk about other stuff, then?" Yukino proposed.

Maki nodded and Masao sat on the side of the bed. "Hey, how about your mom? How's she doin at SEBEC?"

Maki squinted. "She's not my mom!" Her tone became more powerful and louder. "She cares more about her job than me! She doesn't care at all about me!" Maki became mute and lowered her head again.

"S-sorry." Masao stuttered.

"Oh, it's all right, Masa-" An explosion of coughs erupted out of Maki's mouth. She grasped her heart, hacking phlegm and spittle on her sheets.

Maki's hunched forward, the coughing ceasing. Masao grabbed her by the shoulders. "Maki, Maki! What's wrong? Hey!" He shook her leisurely.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" she screamed.

Maki remained motionless.

"Shit! This isn't good!"

"Somebody call a doctor!" Yukino wailed

Surges of pain, shot through out the muscles of Maki's anatomy. Her heart beat rapidly, feeling like it would burst out of her chest. She heard the cries of her friends, but screamed an objective "No" to the pain. The pain in her heart amplified, like her heart and soul was being penetrated, invaded, and then dug out like a mining shaft.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

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><p>Tried my hand at added and improvising, trying not to be too stale in describing, but it's a hospital, nothing really special. Now, next chapter is action time, or should I say awakening time, as well as the end of Mikage Hospital "dungeon." And if you might see I changed some things around, nothing really important, but feedback and criticism is still appreciated. It's kinda difficult to capture certain parts of the game into a novelized format. The Yamaoka scene for example I kinda took straight from the manga mostly and in Chapter 4, I'll be taking material from the manga, not only to introduce Reiji and Tsutomu, but for Ayase's awakening. So, I hope you enjoyed Chapter 2 of Persona: Be Your True Mind, and I'll see you next time for Chapter 3: Awakening.<p> 


	3. Chapter 3: Awakening

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything._

I'd like to start off by answering a few questions for RaidEye on Chapter 2: Nurse Natsumi is pretty much like that in-game and in the manga which is why I described her like that. As for Saeko and Natsumi's concern, that dialogue was mostly taken from the game itself were for some reason they only express concern for the fell instead of the lightning strike. As for Mark and Masao, I'll try to keep it straight, but Mark, like Nao, and Brown is just a nickname. As for the Chisato and Yosuke eloping, in the game before you leave for the hospital, if you go around the different classrooms of the school, you can talk to students and found out that Chisato and Yosuke had gone missing and they thought they'd eloped. As for Maki's crush on Yosuke, it's kind a one-side thing, she still likes Naoya, but she also likes Yosuke, but realizes he's with Chisato. Also I you didn't offend me, I prefer criticism. Now, the chapter does contain a lot: the awakenings (80% of this chapter), the rest of Mikage Hospital (10%), and grabbing Setsuko (10%). As for dungeons, they are greatly reduced in this novelization, because the standard format for the dungeons in the original Persona is, navigate through the maze of floors, to get to a boss, where a cutscene happens, so I'm basically cutting out most of the navigating and traversing the dungeons part, because they don't all necessary have interesting designs and gimmicks like a Zelda dungeon. I might take awhile to upload this, so if you're reading this and were waiting, I'm sorry for the wait. Chapters 4, 5, 6 are short chapters. They won't take a week plus to put out most likely. With that aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind Chapter 3.

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><p><em>Chapter Three: Awakening<em>

Naoya hung up the phone in a nervous sweat. The doctors moved Maki to the I.C.U. and he tried to call Setsuko at SEBEC to let her know of Maki's condition, but the call wouldn't go through to Setsuko.

Naoya walked to the alcove outside the automatic doors to the I.C.U.

"Nao!" Masao face was flushed. "How was it? Is Maki's mom-"

"No good. They said she's in a meeting, so she can't be contacted."

"Huh?" Masao kicked the tan painted wall of the alcove, shaking the hung pictures. "Her kid's in critical condition! What hell? In a meeting! Is their something wrong with them?"

Kei, leaning on the wall, stared at the floor. "Don't make a scene, monkey! Where do you think we are?"

"But c'mon."

Naoya sat down besides Yukino, his eyes tightly shut, clearly disappointed and abashed. "At any rate, I told them to give her the message. I called her house too and left a message on the answering machine."

"Maki's mom works at SEBEC, right?" Yukino asked.

Naoya propped up his head with his palm. "Yeah. Some kind of engineer."

Masao faced the wall, his knuckles knocking on it. The red on his face retreated and a sulky frown came in it's place. Maki being in critical condition really pulled his heartstrings. "She's still her mom, Nao. I don't care if she's an engineer. Maki said she's never around. It's always work, work, work! Making her own kid feel lonely like this!"

"Masao, you idiot! Don't say those kind of things!" Yukino tried to keep her composure and also keep Masao from doing anything rash. Maki being in critical condition effected her too.

"WHY? Isn't that how it is?" Masao pointed at the automatic doors. "If I were part of Maki's family, I would NEVER let her feel lonely! I'd always be by her side and make sure she's okay!"

Naoya sneered at Masao. "It can't be helped, Mark!"

"What's that, Nao?"

Naoya, while listening to Masao, stood up and eased his way towards him. Naoya understood, Mark's point, but he shouldn't throw the blame on one person.

"If Aunt Setsuko could she'd visit Maki more often. Then how would she pay for Maki's hospital bills?"

"Eh? Oh yeah." The anger faded, his expression being one of realization.

"I see. Maki's only got her mother."

Kei remained quiet. He related to Maki, but at the same time envied her. He spent most of his life trying to be the best, because one day he would take over his father's business in the Nanjo Group and forge his path to being number one. The problems were, Yamaoka cared for him throughout his utter childhood. His loyal butler pay more attention to him and compliments and praised him on his successes more than his parents ever possibly could combined.

"_At least her mother supports her, even when she's abandoned in this abode. Must be a prison to her, a doll sealed inside an inescapable cage._"

Naoya, on the inside, begged for Maki to be all right. He poured all his aspiration and soul, believing he could will reality to be altered.

"_Maki's mother needing to paying the bills is something I'm sure Maki understands. Thinking about it logically doesn't make it taste any better._"

Masao pulled his hat over his eyes. He found doing this helped him escape reality. Nothing to the eyes sight, but darkness. In the dark, his artistic mind created intricate, illustrious, and florid graffiti, like paint on a blank canvas. His mind's eye weaved and threaded each letter of his specific trademark tags in a splatter of gaudy colors on the cold, black, and barren dusk.

"_Please live Maki._"

Yukino exhaled a held breathe. She still considered herself a person who was invincible. The reason she joined a gang and very nearly lost her life was because of her bad tendency. She believed knives and bokutos wouldn't hurt and guns and bullets wouldn't pierce her skin. Thinking herself a woman of steel, she'd forgotten the people around her didn't believe they were unstoppable. Maki didn't shared her mind set. Maki didn't think she was immune to sickness and disease. She lived with her sickness on a daily, monthly, and yearly basis.

"_With four years passed, I'm still an idiot who thinks she can win any fight. An idiot who thinks she can't feel any emotions. I am so sorry, Maki, but I just can't bring myself to cry._"

Interrupting their thoughts, the ground began to quake. The quake reverberated throughout the hospital, causing the floor and walls to abnormally shake.

Naoya and Yukino were forcefully jerked off their seats by the quake. They hit the newly cleaned floor.

"Yukino!" Kei attempted to go to Yukino's side, the quake making it a difficulty due to the vibrations.

Kei crouched by her side, grabbed her hand, supported her back with his free arm, and held her, waiting for the shaking to end.

The frames on the wall shook violently, falling off the bland walls. At the contact with the floor, the glass panes fragmentized, the shards heaving forward.

Masao tapped dance around the shards, trying not to step or fall on them, shouting "The hell?"

The quake suddenly stopped.

Kei helped Yukino to her feet. "It seems to have subsided." Kei let go of Yukino's hand. She put her mouth close to his right ear, gently whispering "Thanks, Nanjo."

"Maki!" Masao turned to the automatic doors.

Naoya returned to his feet, while saying, sarcasm clearly in his voice, "Oh, don't worry, guys, I'm fine."

Masao gasped. The automatic doors fully parted, exposing a bland tan wall of the hospital.

"Wow! What the hell? Where'd the room go?"

"How's that possible. I'm positive the I.C.U. was there a moment ago."

"What are we suppose to do?"

Naoya frisked the new wall behind the I.C.U. doors.

"_At first, I thought we were in a bad dream. The wall is real._"

A clamorous, aghast shriek boomed on the third floor. The floor the students were presently on.

The four gasped.

"Is that Maki?"

"It sounded like the woman's on the second floor." Kei explained.

Naoya turned, concern on his and Masao's faces. "_I hope it isn't Maki._"

"Let's go then!" Naoya sprinted out of the alcove of the I.C.U. Masao dragged behind him with Kei and Yukino bringing up the rear.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

The atmosphere of the hospital had changed. The air, no longer fresh and loose, but now musty and thick. The hallways no longer open, but cramped and confined. The pleasure and glee associated inside the hospital replaced with a suffocating and dangerous evil presence. The teenagers were now in a completely different hospital then before.

The shriek escaped the lips of a petrified nurse. Her pink uniform visible at the open doors of the second floor lobby. A rotten stench of death permeated the air in the lobby and leaked out to the halls, adding a pungent odor to the stuffy draft.

Yamaoka felt his person brutally tremble during the earthquake. He worried for his young masters wellbeing.

"_I must find Young Master Kei!_" Yamaoka pushed open the doors to the hallway. His master had ordered him to stay, but what if Kei's safety had been jeopardized, he thought. He would not permit such things to happen. He would disobey an order given to him by the Nanjo Family Head if Kei was endanger. The boy practically was his son. He'd cared for Kei Nanjo since the day of his birth and he'd continue to care and protect him until the day his debilitated heart's beat ended.

Yamaoka reached the second floor, the hallways of the first floor were twisted and bent into a maze of dead-ends. He'd managed to find the flight of stairs, hearing a scream. He'd armed himself with a pipe from the ceiling.

Yamaoka sniffed the air, smelling death and rot. Using the odor as a trail, he found a shrieking nurse. She stood as still as a stone statue, totally horrified. The loyal butler went into the room, drenched in the stench of decayed flesh. His jaw dropped at the sight of the source of the smell.

A group of five, wearing patient's clothing, limbed toward him. Their skin was drab and sinewy. The flesh on their faces loosely hung. Their eyeballs swung out of their sockets and swayed back and forth by tissue. They groaned, limping closer and closer them, their arms pointed straight out, the hands clutching the air.

"Zombies!" The nurse shrieked again.

One of them lunged at the nurse, Yamaoka put himself between them, blocking the zombie with the pipe. Unfortunately, one of the zombies arms grazed the side of his head, peeling a sliver of skin off. Yamaoka held the pipe horizontally, put it against the decaying flesh of the zombie's neck, and laid his weight on the pipe.

"Please run, Miss!"

The held zombie lunged forward again, by passing the pipe, and clawing Yamaoka's neck, tearing off more flesh. A spray of blood washed over the zombie's face.

Yamaoka's knees buckled and he collapsed on his side. The zombie who slashed his throat, shoveling the torn flesh into it's mouth.

"Fresh meat!" It groaned.

The nurse, trembling with disgust, and terror backed up, falling on hear rear, trying to back out the doors.

Right after he fall, Kei, Yukino, Naoya, and Masao rushed into the second floor lobby. They too followed the stench.

"More fresh meat!" One of the zombies yelled with ecstasy.

"Wh-what's with these guys?" Yukino held her nose. Her nostrils were burning.

The nurse stammered, "Th-the dead patients suddenly got up and walked. The old man rescued me and," She gripped the wall to return to her feet, the zombies eyeing her. "NOOOOOO!" she ran out, without looking back.

"What these guys are dead? Is this for real?" Masao asked.

"Y-Yamaoka?" Kei's face lit up like a Christmas tree in rage and melancholy.

Kei without thinking charged the zombie chewing on Yamaoka's meat.

"YOU BASTARD!" Kei put his momentum into a powerful kick to the zombie's used-to-be solar plexus, launching it into the other zombies, knocking them to the floor like bowling pins, causing them to struggle severely to stand up.

Kei's eyes watered, pouring out tears. He fell to his knees, not enough strength to hold his body weight.

"YAMAOKA! YOU BASTARDS! HOW DARE YOU!" Kei stared sincerely into Yamaoka's eyes. "Yamaoka, please don't leave me behind!"

Yamaoka, pressuring his fatal wound with his hand, trying his hardest to speak. He weakly caressed Kei's cheek with his other wrinkled hand.

"Oh, young master…" Yamaoka coughed. "Don't be so sad. It spoils your handsome face. You are a fine Japanese man and a man must stand on his own someday." Yamaoka's bloody face streamed tears. "It seems this will be the last service…I can provide you."

Kei's placed his head on his butler's chest, hearing his faint heartbeat in his ear. "No! NO! NO! NO! NO! I won't let you leave me! Please, Yamaoka, please!"

"It is time I said farewell. Please promise me, young master. Promise to become the number one man in the country and carry the world on your back!" Yamaoka coughed again, the hand on his wound covered in his blood.

"Of course! Of course, I will! When the time comes you'll see. So, until then-"

"My young master…I will always be in your heart." Yamaoka closed his eyes, his partially lifted head sinking to the floor. The beating of his heart in Kei's ear halted, signaling the end of the loyal old man's life.

"Yamaoka? Hey! Answer! I'm begging you! Yamaoka!"

Kei wiped away his tears. The misery in his eyes mixed with pure feral fury and it all was aimed at the recently standing zombies.

"I'll never forgive you bastards!"

Yukino, Masao, and Naoya ran to Kei's side as the zombies thumped their rotten limbs across the floor.

"Careful, guys!" Yukino yelled.

"How the hell are we suppose to fight something already dead?" Masao scoured in his backpack for something.

Naoya picked up Yamaoka's pipe. "Easy! We send the heads flying!"

Naoya impulsively charged like Kei, pulling the pipe back to swing. He came into range of the zombie who killed Yamaoka. He stopped his speed and swung the pipe forward, bashing the side of the zombies head, snapping it backwards. The sound of the snapped neck made Naoya cringe. The zombie swatted Naoya to the wall.

"Nao!" Masao dug his hand deeper, losing his hope of survival.

The zombie popped it's neck back into place and lunged on Naoya.

"SHIT!"

One of the zombies hands gripped hard on Naoya's shoulder, digging into it. Naoya yelled out in pain.

The other zombies encircled Yukino, Masao, and Kei.

"_We're going to die!_"

The zombie raised its other claw and swung it down on the Naoya. In Naoya's eyes, time delayed, images of Philemon and the crying little girl flashing in his mind, fear still stricken in his body. A eerie velvet mist surrounded his feet. His body surged with a bizarre flash. He felt a build of power which quickly released.

"AAAHH!" The power burst out around of him, throwing the zombie backward into the opposite wall. The velvet mist swirled around his lower body, blowing his Ebony locks in a flurry. Masao, Yukino, and Kei were also surrounded by the mist, feeling the sensation of energy building inside and then releasing.

Masao, Yukino, and Kei were awestruck at the energy flooding out, feeling a mysterious presence hover behind them, as if the sense of fear had called it.

Naoya held the side of his face, his hair whipping backwards. "PER-SO-NA!"

The miniature figure Naoya saw in the palm of Philemon's hand, emerged above him, his fists clenched, and toes curled, ready to fight.

The blue figure spoke to Naoya in a deep voice. "Thou art I and I am thou I am a being that has emerged from the sea of your soul! I shall lend you my power! I am Seimen Kongo!"

Masao gave up on his backpack, feeling his own Persona above his back. A being with wiggling worm-like emerald strands of hair, a tribal decorative shaman mask on it's face, tightly swathed in a mud colored, ruffled cloth, it's hands and feet level stumps of lime tendrils, and a clannish earthen spear, held by the tendrils.

The Person spoke in a African accent. "Thou art I and I am thou! I shall lend you my power! I am Ogun!"

"Awesome!" Masao trademark grin expanded. "Let's do it to it!" Masao threw his hand in the air.

Kei saw his Persona hovering above Yamaoka's corpse. The lithe and slinky Persona, dressed in plum spandex, twirled it's metallic fingers, sharp stilettos at the end of each tip. A spandex head mask fastened to it's head, revealed only it's pure jade eyes and red lumps underneath the bottom of the lids. On each joint a spiked brace attached itself, a chain interconnecting between all of them.

Kei's Person gently spoke as an sadden, but educated intellectual "Thou art I and I am thou! I shall lend you my power! I am Aizen Myouou!"

The young heir to the Nanjo Group, held his loyal butler's glasses in his hands. He wiped his tears and swiped his hand, clasping the glasses, to his right.

"My move!"

Yukino turned her head to see her Persona. Her Persona wore a white mask, a hollow cross in the center of it, inserted inside a carroty sack, wearing armor, ornamented with spines. The sack indeed had arms, but they too were assembled out of the raggedy orange clothe, each hand and finger straggly-like tresses. The area the mask was slotted in was a jester hat, also arranged out of the orange material, with two pendulum crystals displacing the bells at the end of the extension on the hat.

Her Persona addressed her in a compassionate womanly voice. "Thou art I and I am thou! I shall lend you my power! I am Vesta!"

Yukino tilted her head. Vesta didn't seem to match her. "_Whatever._"

Yukino punched the air. "HA!"

Naoya touched the side of his face, Seimen Kongo above him, the zombie cowering in fear of the almighty presences of the Persona.

The four heard words of a different tongue in their heads.

"Garu," Naoya repeated.

Seimen Kongo yelled, flying at the lead zombie. He threw a powerful jab in mid-air, not connecting, but summoning a feral storm of green wind around the zombie in the line of fist, the decayed flesh ripping a part by the amazing winds.

Kei caught-on the fastest. "Aizen Myouou! HAMA!"

The spandex Persona opened it's arms out, ready to maybe receive a hug. Milky white washed under the feet of two zombies. Sutras and talisman looped, sticking themselves on every inch of their corpses. The light burned away at them, reducing them to rancid ash.

Masao pointed at a zombie, Ogun readying it's spear. "Flurry Stab!"

Ogun jousted at the zombie, impaling him with the spear. The Persona yanked it out, reassuring the zombie of it's death by tearing it to chunks with a barrage of relentless stabs.

"My turn, boys! Let's go Vesta! Frei!"

The cloth fingers curled inward, a pulsating ball of golden energy appearing in the palms. Vesta aimed and fired the orb. The Frei spell expanded into a cannonade of the golden energy, essentially nuking the remaining of the undead.

At the second deaths of the zombies, the Personas departed as swiftly as they arrived. Naoya slid his back on the wall to the floor, his hand nervously holding the left side of his head.

Kei crouched on one knee by Yamaoka's side.

Yukino went to his side, reaching her hand to his shoulder. "Yamaoka, what should I do. Without you, I'm all alone. No one is here to encourage me. No one will stand by me." Kei's dry eyes wetted once again with tears of mourning.

"Kei…" Yukino frowned. "_He needs comfort. He's lost a loved one._"

Masao grabbed her wrist. "Let him alone, Yukino."

"_The guy may be a dick, but I can sympathizes with anybody whose lost somebody important to them._"

"Hey, Nao, you hear their voices. They said they were us."

Naoya nodded, his hand and head shaking. "Those are the Personas, huh? They're powerful. I guess they listen to us."

"Oh, Mark, what the shit were you searching in you pack for while we were going to be eaten?" Yukino asked.

Masao picked up his bag. "I totally forgot!" He turned it upside down, the contents spilling out. Books, pencils, pads, dozen of cans of spray paint, painting materials, and….a steel hatchet. Masao sifted in the pile of artistic supplies and came out with the hatchet in his hand. "There it is!" he exclaimed triumphantly. "Why hadn't I done that earlier?"

Yukino and Naoya looked puzzled. "Mark, why do you have a axe in your backpack?"

"It's my blade, Nao."

"What?"

"His weapon, Naoya. On the streets, you carry a weapon." Yukino explained, previously being a member of a gang on the streets for years. She carried a switchblade in her pocket, back then, even to school, when she rarely attended class, back then.

"Mark, that's an axe! You can dismember a person with that!"

Yukino put her hands in her pockets, feeling a sudden pain in her thumb finger.

"Ow!" Yukino retracted her hand, her thumb bleeding out of a narrow slice. She put her open hand in the pocket, nicely cupping the contents and retrieving it. A total of eight razorblades were in her hands.

"Why'd you have razorblades in your pocket?"

"I was using them to chop and cut tiny things for my project, must've spaced out when Brown mentioned Persona and put them in my pocket."

Masao helped Naoya to his feet, whose hand tremors stopped. "Use em', Yukino! We all need a weapon, if more of those undead freaks are in the halls." Masao picked up the pipe Yamaoka used, that Naoya picked up and put it his friend's hands.

"You use the pipe, Nao. Yukino can throw the razorblades and take em' back. I've got my blade. Now we need something for, rich boy and we can go to try and find Maki."

Kei's empty eyes locked with Masao's. "Leave me with Yamaoka!"

Masao hooked his arm under Kei's, aggressively pulling him to his feet. "The four of us came in here alive, Nanjo, and we're all going out alive!"

"A monkey wouldn't understand."

Masao put his axe in his left hand, balling his right fist. He punched Kei in the shoulder, the force knocking the glasses-wearing boy to the floor, casting his said glasses to the other side of the room.

"Like hell I wouldn't understand, Nanjo!"

Yukino picked up Kei's glasses. "_I should stopped him, but maybe Masao can talk some sense into Kei._"

"_If Kei won't come with us, I refuse to leave him here._"

Kei's eyes ignited in a fire, his body struggling to stand up.

"Think, Nanjo, before you take a swing at me! Would the old man, really want you to stay here and die! If anything he wanted you to live! He said he spent seventy-years of his life protecting you and you want to throw those seventy-years away in this stinkin' hell! You're the most selfish prick I've met!"

Masao's words stung. Kei hung his head in shame. He wiped his fresh sorrow on his sleeve. He slipped Yamaoka's glasses into his breast pocket. Yukino handed him his own glasses. He opened the stems, adjusting the frame on his nose comfortably. He tucked his "number one" scarf in. He raised his head, his usual features regained, the sophisticated and stable tone to his voice and his serious and cool complexion.

"Well, then, Todo, Yukino, Masao, let us go." Kei stepped to the open threshold.

"Masao?" Masao gasped. "_He never calls me by my first name._"

"Hey, Kei, wait up!" Yukino ran in front of him, razorblades carefully placed between each of here fingers. "You don't have a weapon. So, I'll use mine and you can use your Persona."

Kei shook his head in agreement. "Thank you, Yukino."

"_I'm sorry, Yamaoka. I shouldn't squander those seventy-years of your life you spent protecting me. I'm sorry, Yamaoka. I was too caught in my own selfish desires I'd lose sight of your's. To think the monkey Masao Inaba would have me realize this. I'll do it, Yamaoka. I'll be the number one man in Japan…FOR YOU!_"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

The hallways of the hospital retained the odor of death and bent in intricate pathways. They managed to not run into anymore zombies down on the first floor, but considering how much of the stench saturated the air in a short period of time in the middle of the earthquake and their arrival, lead Kei to believe more zombies roamed the halls.

Kei kept in the center of the four, Naoya and Masao stayed up ahead, pipe and axe respectively readied. Yukino brought up the rear.

As the four tried to escape the hospital of hell, Naoya's thoughts replayed the events of the day. It hadn't been two hours since the game of Persona was played.

"_We were preparing for the school festival when we made the bet. Persona, the crying girl, the butterfly dream, Philemon, Maki disappearing along with the I.C.U. What's going on? I'm scare as hell, but I want to confirm and fathom what started this._"

The four crept into an upcoming corner, a shadow of a lone nurse cast on the wall. They turned down the hall, finding a the nurse with her back turned. The nurse rotated towards them, her face misarranged in a mess of corroded soft tissue. Groans of hunger were heard behind them and farther in the corridor.

Hordes of zombies limped in both directions, pinning the four at the corner.

"Yo, Nao, this is bad!" Masao stated.

"We're surrounded, Todo."

"Persona."

"Eh?" Masao prepared his axe.

"Call out Persona and fight!" Naoya put the pipe at a diagonally angle, using his left hand to grip his face. "_I don't know what's going on, but I don't wanna be killed. Remember the exact feeling!_"

The mist arose under Naoya, the wind carrying his hair into a frenzy.

"Persona! Seimen Kongo!" The blue beast man appeared at the call of Naoya.

Masao, Kei, and Yukino watched on wordless at Naoya summoning his Persona on command.

"Here I come, zombies!" Naoya pointed to the zombie nurse. "Seimen Kongo, GARU!"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Outside of the hospital, Mikage's street, the peaceful and tame nature adrift, bustled with hundreds of hideous monsters, in a hundreds of different shapes and variants. The citizens barricaded their families and friends in their own homes. The beasts' roars disrupted the common lives of the men, women, and children, driving their city to become a utterly chaotic nightmare infested with vicious demons.

Just as the families were sheltered in their homes, St. Hermelin High, Principle Ooishi and Vice-Principle Hanya safeguarded the students who remained in the school at the end of the day, including Hidehiko, Yuka, and Eriko.

Hanya, shinai in hand, ordered the first years to guard the gates and block the windows on each floor.

On the east side of the school, near the gym, Ms. Saeko asked Yuka, Yuko, and Eriko to plug up a hole. In the passageway to the gym, a brick wall was erected. A student a few week back snuck in the school at night and hammered and pick axed out a portion of the bricks. The disciplinary committee haven't found the student or the purpose.

Hanya focused on finding the student instead of addressing the property damage. Now with random monsters and demons flying and prowling the sidewalks and roads, decreasing the number of entryways into the school was the main priority.

Hanya's mind worked like a general's, treating the students as his soldiers, the school as his encampment, and Mikage as a war zone. After ordering the first years to be guards, he ordered the second years to take stock of the food supply in the cafeteria and teachers lounge. The third and fourth years searched the floors of the school, looking in each classroom to gather the stragglers into the gym.

Yuka, Eriko, and Yuko lifted boxes and cinderblocks to the passageway to fill up the perforation.

"Like, hurry up, Yuko." Ayase commanded to the girl with braided purple hair. "The hole isn't gonna plug itself up."

Yuko, a timid and shy girl, carried a stack of boxes in her arms. Ayase walked backwards in front of her empty-handed. Eriko examined the exposed courtyard by the gym, her own stack of boxes beside her leg.

"Hey, it seems everything is okay." she said. "I'm going to go out for a little bit!"

Ayase shouted at Eriko. "NO! If YOU die, like, what are WE supposed to do? You saw just now right? There are, like, monsters running around the city!"

Eriko smiled, grasping the newly attached scabbard on her hip. She unsheathed the weapon, revealing it to be a fencing rapier. She held the sword in a appropriate fencing stance.

Ayase glowered.

"My, there's no need to worry. Even now, I have confidence in my sword skills. A demon or two will be no problem!"

Eriko studied fencing overseas. When she settled in Mikage to finish her education at St. Hermelin, she joined the fencing team, becoming the top fencer in the school.

Ayase closed her eyes, massaging her temples. If Eriko left, she would have to do work. She was never keen on heavy lifting, light lifting, or any labor period. "No problem, you say, you are, like, so-"

"Well then, I'll be off."

Ayase opened her eyes, seeing Eriko dart through the gap.

Ayase pouted. "If something, like, happens to you! I don't care!"

Eriko ran up the streets of Mikage, her rapier still out. She'd conned Ayase; not difficult in the slightest. She didn't only want to explore the "new" Mikage. Beneath her pulchritudinous (A/N), placid exterior, she worried for Nao and the others.

Since Eriko attended St. Hermelin and met Naoya Todo, her crush on him augmented to a burning care and love for him, but Naoya rather spend his time and money in the arcade, Judgment 1999, instead of her. "_He's playing hard to get._" She often though when Naoya missed an obvious hint by her.

"_It's so quiet._"

The streets of Mikage, typically quiet, wasn't an uncanny silence. Eriko was uneasy. Fifteen minutes is the amount of time it takes to go to the Mikage Hospital. She only needed to endure the silence for fifteen minute.

The situation struck Eriko's fancy five minutes in, passing the Historical Society and Sun Mall.

"_The city was normal until recently, now, it's different with no one around. It's as if we're in a Stephen Prince (A/N) novel. The Cursed City._"

Eriko Kirishima enjoyed occult, supernatural, and fictional paraphernalia, novels, and tales of the dark side. Her fascination didn't match her demeanor, but looks can always be deceiving.

Eriko passed the Alaya Shrine, a prayer shrine, which interior was adorned with different types of masks.

Eriko heard a human grunt of hurt. She saw red spots by the stairs to the Alaya Shrine.

"Blood?"

She heard another groan.

"Is someone there?"

Beside the stairs, fell a woman, short brunette hair, in a brown blazer, wearing glasses.

Eriko rushed to her side. "Oh my God! Are you all right? What happened?"

The woman pick up her head. She notice the insignia on Eriko's shirt. She elevated her chest. "You're a student at St. Hermelin!" her hands grabbed Eriko's shoulders, pulling her closer. "I'm Setsuko Sonomura, Maki Sonomura's mother!"

"Maki's mother?" Eriko saw the side of Setsuko's blouse stained in blood. "I'm her classmate, Eriko Kirishima. Are you wounded?"

"No, it's nothing serious! I was grazed by a bullet. More importantly, I have to hurry to the police. The city is no longer receiving electricity or a telephone signal. I couldn't dial 911."

Eriko heard a third groan, not out of Setsuko's mouth. The groan wasn't of pain, it was of hunger. Setsuko's eyes blinked repeatedly. Eriko snapped her head back, a giant amphibious creature skulking toward them.

The demon, green skinned, and scaled, groaned gutturally, opening it's webbed, three-fingered talons. He leaped high into the air, diving on Eriko and Setsuko.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Masao struck the last zombie down in the chest with his axe. "Man, it's like we're in friggin' Abandoned 4 Dead (A/N)." Masao tucked his hand in his pocket, running his index finger under his nose. "These guys aren't a big deal at all." He chuckled. "Maybe we're too strong."

Yukino pulled the bottom of Masao's, earring-less ear until it was red.

"OUCH!"

"Get off your high horse!" she scolded. "It thanks to our Personas, we can even fight those things." She let go of Masao's ear.

"Damn, Yukino, that hurt!" Masao rubbed his ear. "I know that much, but we're the ones who can call those out."

"Mark, Yukino, hurry up here! We found a doctor whose alive!"

Naoya discovered a wounded doctor, laying up against the door to the lobby. His lab coat soaked in blood.

"Your Maki's doctor, right?" Kei asked.

"You're those kids." he weakly said, then coughed hard. "You wanted to see her."

"Yeah, now, is she here?" Naoya asked desperately, Masao and Yukino joining them.

The doctor coughed again. "No. In the Intensive Care Unit when the earthquake occurred, me and the attending physician must've fallen unconscious. I woke up here, nearly eaten by those hideous things. I found a window. The city has turned into a netherworld. No people, no cars, nothing, but monsters." He coughed into his shoulder, harder, crimson droplets staining the white.

"So, Maki, may not be in the hospital." Masao put his axe back in his backpack, preparing to leave.

"_It's hopeless. We practically searched each floor trying to leave._"

"I suggest we head back to the school, we might not be able to make it back to our individual homes by ourselves. It's key to our survival, we stick together. We can form a search team in the morning back at St. Hermelin."

"Kei's right, we gotta help the doctor." Naoya said.

"No, you kids leave. I'm too far along already. Go, find Maki Sonomura."

Naoya nodded, complying with the doctor's wishes. The doctor closed his eyes.

"Todo, I hear thumping."

"You gotta be kidding me! We beat down at least fifty of them!" Masao dug back out his axe.

"Forget it, Mark! If Maki isn't here, we're heading back to the school."

Yukino, Kei, and Masao pushed into the doors to the lobby. Naoya heard the dry, sinewy thuds of the limping zombies. He looked to the doctor and then down the hall they'd previously fought the horde in, more crowds of silhouettes projected on the tan walls.

"Nao! Hurry up! They're coming!"

Naoya clenched his teeth, putting his arms under the doctor's in a full-nelson. He grunted, dragging the doctor to the lobby. "You may be on the path to death, but I'm not leaving you to be zombie chow!"

Naoya fully dragged the bleeding doctor into the carpeted lobby floor. Kei and Masao slammed the doors shut.

"You kids go! I'll prop my weight on the door. I'll hold them back until I go. You four, please, stay alive."

Naoya helped the doctor against the door. The doctor let out a grunt of pain.

"We can still help you." Naoya said.

The doctor shook his head back and forth. "Go, son, I've lived my life. You four still need to live yours. So, I ask you again, please go and let me save your four lives in my final moments."

Masao and Yukino grabbed Naoya by the arms, struggling to pulling him through the automatic doors.

"No! Let me go!"

"Come on, you heard the doc, Nao."

"Naoya, I'll hit you over the head and carry you out on my back if I have to." Yukino threatened.

Naoya stopped his tussling. The handles of the door, racked back and forth. The doctor averting their accessibility.

The doctor coughed blood on to his shirt, speaking to Naoya. "Thank you."

Naoya stepped back through the automatic doors, his eyes locked on to the doctor. He planted the last step out to the concrete sidewalk, the mechanic sides returning. The doctor's countenance and bloodied character disappeared in Naoya's sight at the moment the doors closed.

Naoya grabbed the side of his face, reluctantly running with his fellow classmates.

"_I'm sorry. I couldn't save you. Even when you said you were to far along, the least I could do was slow the zombies into sinking there teeth farther into you, for a short while. You did save our four lives, keeping the new horde back for us, with your final breathes nearing. As a doctor you're job is to save lives. Even when you're bleeding to death, clutching the straws of life, you did your job. You shouldn't thank me. I should've thanked you._"

Naoya's flicked a teardrop with his index finger. He'd tried to help a complete stranger to him, yet the stranger helped him and his friends. The cost of life was all ready collected, but before the doctor cast his last handful of coins into the fountain of death, he'd helped them escape. He did not begged to be saved, begged to live, or cursed himself. A truly selfless man, possibly a simple stranger, can perform good acts that extricate the souls of many.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

* * *

><p>(AN) A play on Stephen King, of course, a little Persona 3 Junpei style humor, taking a real thing and making it a play on words to suit the situation. Abandoned 4 Dead is obviously a play on Left 4 Dead, thought it suited the situation. Yes, that word is a real word.

Okay, for the amount of time it took to write this, I'm not really liking the turn-out, but whatever. I do think I handled the awakening well, the being to, the very ending scene with the dying doctor, kinda rushed, I'll admit, but I think I got the point across that Naoya wanted to save him, but couldn't. That's a change-up of the ending part of the hospital where a nurse is trapped under a vending machine and you can chose to save her or leave her there and it's part of a somewhat test of your character throughout the game. So, I spun it with Maki's dying doctor and Naoya being a decent-human being, trying to stop him from becoming just another mangled corpses. As for Eriko, normally she's suppose to have her awakening at the hospital, but I went with the manga's approach were they escape, then meet Eriko with her Persona, and then retrieve Setsuko. Next chapter, I hope won't take me as long as this. Chapter 4 isn't terrible long, but I've learned my lesson of not trying to cram a lot of content into one chapter. It doesn't seem like a lot of content in-game terms does it? Once again reviews and criticism are welcome, anything I can do to improve is always welcome. Either way I hope you enjoyed Chapter Three of Persona: Be Your True Mind, and I'll see you next time for Chapter Four: St. Hermelin.


	4. Chapter 4: St Hermelin

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything.

_Answering blazehawkins question: Well, relating to protagonists, in the game, you the main protagonists are the M.C., Masao, Kei, Maki, and one of the following: Hidehiko, Yuka, Eriko, or Reiji. In this fic, I'm using all of them as main protagonists. So, yeah, all of them, including Yukino, will be a group throughout the novelization. As for the zombies and their appearances with the demons, it's part of the plot, that Setsuko and Philemon will explain in this chapter. Wow, I just realized how much angst was in the last chapter, that I'm going to have to counterbalance it with an equal amount of awesomeness, specifically Eriko's Persona (Her awakening is going to be shown), and a little plot expansion, and setting up the main quest, but that won't really start until Chapter Six, when seven of the eight characters are in one group. Yuka Ayase's awakening will be next chapter along with another certain character's. With that aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind Chapter Four._

* * *

><p><em>Chapter Four: St. Hermelin<em>

Following their escape from the hospital, the four started the fifteen minute trek back to St. Hermelin. They felt the now disconcerting silence on the vacant streets.

Naoya watched his feet as he solemnly walked. "_No cars, no cell service, demonic roars, zombies. The quake effected all of Mikage. What the hell is happening? The air is thick with this heavy pressure…_"

Masao rested his axe on his shoulder, ready to take a swing at anything. He was obviously tense and anxious. "_Man, where are you, Maki. I hope you're okay._"

"Damn!" Kei brutally shut his cell phone.

"No dial tone again, Kei?" Yukino asked.

"No dial tone and no service since the earthquake."

"Hey, there's a payphone." Masao pointed down to the other side of an alley to the said payphone, just by the subway.

"Maybe the landlines work." Yukino suggested.

Kei put away his phone. "It is possible. We'll have to cross through the alley. Something on the roofs of the buildings may use the opportunity to strike."

Masao patted his shoulder with the long wooden handle of his weapon.

"I'll take care of it!" Masao, without a word, ran into the alley.

"Mark, wait!" Naoya looked along the edges of roofs of the buildings. Rows of crows, purple-feathered, roosted on the ledges. An odd trait, other than the purple- feathers, were the number of talons. "_They each have three!_"

Kei also made this observation. "Masao, the birds!"

Masao, halfway, stopped. "Huh?"

At Masao's sudden stop, the squawks and caws of the birds lifting up were heard, the violet wings flapping. Masao titled his head up. "Shit!"

The murder dove at him at incredible speeds. Masao jumped back, the axe slipping in his grip.

"_Shit! Shit! I don't wanna die!_"

The crows swooped above the ground, aiming for the energetic youth's ankles.

Masao heaved his axe in the air. "Let's do it to it! Persona!"

The velvet mist formed, Ogun arriving with his earthen spear.

"Ogun, kill that murder, Gry!"

Ogun spun his spear, then hit the ground with the blunt end. The incoming crows ceased their flight in midair, forcefully smashed to the ground by a large orb of purple energy. The orb ceased their flight and their ear-piercing calls as the supreme amount of gravity on them broke their bodies.

Masao wiped sweat on his forehead, Ogun vanishing. "Phew!"

Yukino, Naoya, and Kei, during the attack of the three-talon crows, crammed themselves into the cramped, narrow ally, Kei and Naoya humorously sandwiched together by the wall.

Yukino sighed, giving Naoya a hard kick in the rib, the momentum forcing him forward.

Masao made it to the phone booth, dancing over each crows' carcasses. He picked up the receiver, dialing "911." He tapped his foot erratically, dismissing the attack on his life by birds.

"Pick up, pick up, pick up."

Kei approached him with a scowl. He sharply exhaled. "Taking unnecessary risks is how people die!"

Masao waved his hand at Kei, hanging up the phone. "Chill, Nanjo! For the record, the phone doesn't work either."

"Just makes your possible death more pointless."

Masao exited the glass booth. "What did you-" Yukino hit him over the head, Masao's hands immediately nursing the new bump. "Why do you always hit me?"

Naoya rolled his eyes. "You make it too easy for her to scold you."

"Next time, I'll pick off the crows with these." Yukino held a razorblade in between her index and middle finger.

"Hey, Nanjo, let me see your cell phone." Masao demanded.

Kei humored him, placing the device in his clammy palm. "I doubt you using the phone will give it a signal."

"Screw that! I'm cutting some of this tension in my shoulder blades!" Masao winded his arms, chucking the phone in a arc over the descending stairs to the subway.

Kei's eyes widen.

Masao laughed.

Naoya followed the phone. It soared above the subway stairs. The clearing the stairs it fell straight not curved. The phone hit the concrete, breaking in half.

"Masao, you destroyed my phone."

Masao grabbed his stomach. "Worth every instant!"

Naoya picked up the phone. He touched the air in front of him, his finger spreading on a opaque yet translucent screen. Naoya saw the other side of the road he stood on, but an invisible wall separate him and the other side. He streaked his fingers in lines a few feet to his left and right.

"Hey, guys, you might wanna check this out."

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

The four sat by the subway for a short time to discuss the situation.

"An invisible dome has surrounded the city, no cell phone service, no service at all, demons swarming the streets. An earthquake couldn't have possible caused all of this." Kei pinched the bridge of his nose, slightly lifting his glasses.

"That's why I'm saying there's more to this than an earthquake. Philemon warned us. He said we'd use our Personas soon. Two hours later, we are and demons infested the city."

"Nao, weren't you the one who said we ought to go home and forgot the dreams." Masao scribbled in a notepad he retrieved from his backpack.

"That's was before the crazy shit. I mean, it adds up a lot better now."

Kei disagreed. "Maki's disappearance, the reasons why the demons are here, the crying girl, are all unexplained, Todo."

Yukino fixed her hairclip. "_Kei sounds like he's given up on the illusion theory he had earlier. Though seeing Yamaoka die in his arms probably brought him to the conclusion this is truly real no matter how much we hate it._"

Yukino's still felt bad for her friend. Yukino's parents kept tabs on her even when she was in the gang. They cared for her even when she was a punk on the streets. But, the death of Yamaoka honestly caught her in the heart. She'd keep imagining if Ms. Saeko had been the one to die and instead of in Kei's it was her arms.

"_Of course, that wouldn't be the first time Ms. Saeko might've been in that position thanks to me._"

Yukino remembered the time Ms. Saeko had put herself in the way of gun aimed at her. She tried to leave the gang for good. The fellow members didn't take it kindly. They showed up at St. Hermelin, cornered her outside in the courtyard, threatening her with bokutos and two-by-fours. One of them brought a loaded 9mm handgun.

Yukino's bad tendency of thinking she was invincible reared it's ugly head. She never called for help, she never cried. She took the beating, fighting back as best as she could until the gun was cocked. Yukino froze for a moment, preparing to lunge, but she heard yelling from Ms. Saeko. The teacher arrived in the lobby, panting, stepping in front of Yukino. The gun trained on her. "You six have five seconds to get off this property. The police have been called by the Vice-Principle, they will be here shortly." Ms. Saeko spoke, keeping Yukino at her back. Her voice didn't falter.

All that time the loaded gun was aimed at her heart, meant for Yukino, she stood tall, didn't break, and apparently intimidated the gangs members enough with her threat to force them to leave the school grounds.

"_Ms. Saeko protected me during those days like Yamaoka protected Kei all his life. It's a dame shame he died._"

Kei dusted his pants off. "We've wasted enough time here. Let us get back on track, shall we?"

A spark of electricity crackled at Kei's back, expanding into an savage woman's face, fangs and talons including, crafted out of the electricity. Jagged blue streaks formed a mane of hair around the face. It shrieked.

Yukino acted before the beast. She pulled Kei forward, flinging a razorblade at the now solidified head. The razorblade gashed the brow, spitting out blue blood. The demon shouted in pain.

"Call out your Personas!" Naoya ordered.

"Come here!" A female voice yelled.

The face instantly contorted into a gasp. More slices appeared, crossing each other. The electric monster faded away, revealing behind her thunderous mane, Eriko Kirishima, wielding a rapier, used to destroy the electrical face, a silver armored, pure white angel above her, a halo hovering over it's cranium and the metallic breast plate displaying cleavage, indicating the gender of the Persona. The wings were the actually arms of the Persona and the head the halo hovered over was armored with silver, a mouth plate covering the rest of her face except for her white eyes, outlined black.

"Is everyone, ok? No injuries? There's no need for concern! My Persona is Nike the goddess of victory. If anything strange were to happen. It would be no problem. From now on, I shall be everyone's goddess of victory!" Eriko face was flushed with glee, practically glowing because of her Persona.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Eriko lead the group back to Alaya Shrine, explaining the events she experienced. She had played Persona before, also meeting Philemon. "It was a long time ago and I wasn't struck by lightning." she said. She then went on to talking about discovering Setsuko Sonomura, and her Persona awoke when the Kappa-like demon attacked them. Her feeling of immanent death called forth her Persona, Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, modeled after an angel. Setsuko moved into the shrine to keep out of the demons sight and Eriko went to hospital, on the way she noticed the same alleyway the four had gone through to the payphone, seeing the demon attempting to attack Kei.

When Eriko finished explaining, Kei elaborated on the events in the hospital and the situation in Mikage.

"Ms. Sonomura said she knows what's going on. She said it's related to S.E.B.E.C. She tried to stop it, but she was shot at." Eriko said.

Naoya's ears perked. "Is she okay?" Setsuko Sonomura was like an aunt to Naoya.

"The bullet grazed her side. We barely stopped the bleeding."

"Since we're heading back to the school, we'll take her with us. Nurse Natsumi can fix up the wound." Masao stated. "_Great, now, Maki's mother is involved in this. I swear if I see her, I'm gonna give her a piece of my mind. How dare she make Maki miserable."_

Naoya fiddled with his earring, trying to calm himself done. "_First, Maki goes missing and now Aunt Setsuko is shot. All of this is connected to S.E.B.E.C.? It still doesn't make any sense!_"

Kei pondered on Eriko's story, taking in the words of Setsuko out of her mouth. "_Not enough information to confirm my suspicions right now, but when Setsuko Sonomura fully explains the situation in Mikage involving S.E.B.E.C. I'll see the big picture. I want the head of whoever did this. I have strong feeling I know who. He'll pay for Yamaoka's death._"

Eriko arranged her bang with her hand, her other hand firmly grasping the handle of her rapier. "_Thank goodness, my sweet Nao is all right. I was really scared he and the others had been hurt or worse. I honestly hope we can fix whatever's causing this. As fascinating as The Cursed City is I'd like to go back to good ol' normal Mikage._"

Eriko liked Mikage. It was a city she felted at home in. No major crimes, little pollution, not a lot of traffic congestion. She loved it there as much as she loved traveling on the seas. Her feelings for Naoya contributed to the list of reasons she loved Mikage.

"Here's the Alaya Shrine." Eriko said at their arrival. "Ms. Sonomura's inside."

The group of five entered the veil of a door into the shrine. Each wall was decorated with a hundred of different masks. A giant swallotail butterfly image had been painted on the floor. Setsuko Sonomura was sprawled on the floor, applying pressure to her wound.

Naoya ran to her side in concern. "Aunt Setsuko!"

A yellow light shined on the five. Naoya turned his head, seeing the yellow featureless butterfly emitting the light.

"Oh, what an exquisite butterfly." said Eriko.

The butterfly circled the five.

"Hey…is it me, or is there something strange about that butterfly?" Yukino stated.

The butterfly flew practically in each of their faces.

Masao harmlessly swatted it away. "Wh-what's up with this thing!"

An with Masao's question, a flash of white, the students momentarily losing their consciousness. They did not fall, but stood in a coma-like state for what seemed for Setsuko a total of ten seconds. The five of them were called to Philemon.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Naoya found himself drifting through the void of gears and darkness, chasing the butterfly, but when he landed on Philemon's platform he wasn't alone. Eriko, Kei, Yukino, and Masao were standing there with him.

"Here again." Naoya said, feeling a cold sweat coming on.

"Isn't much different than last time." Masao pointed out.

"We meet again, my friends." Philemon had appeared, standing in the center of the platform. "Are you used to your Personas?"

Naoya stepped forward. "Yeah. We got the hang of them. You mind telling us what's going on?"

"As you have seen for yourselves, events are moving in an unexpected direction. Only those with a strong will are capable of stopping the flow that has gone awry."

"What the hell does that mean?" Masao cursed.

"Quit, Masao!" Kei ordered in his commanding tone of voice. "He's obviously talking about what's happened to Mikage. The unexpected change of events is the demons appearing and the erection of the barrier around Mikage. We're the those with the strong will which can stop these events."

"You are partly right, my friend." Philemon pointed to Naoya, then to Masao, then to Kei, then to Eriko, and finally at Yukino. "You are five of the strong willed. You will discover four more on your journey. Maybe sooner than you can tell."

"What's with the cryptic talk? Just say it to us straight!" Yukino hated to be jerked around.

"I'm sorry. I can not. I, unlike my competitor, cannot break the rules."

"Competitor? Rules? What the hell are you fucking talking about?" Masao was ready to pull out his axe and start swinging.

"I've said too much. You shouldn't concern yourself with my words. Focus on the task at hand, my friends. To save your city, you must use the Personas I have granted you."

Naoya felt his hand trembling over his face. "How do we save our city?"

"The woman may tell."

"Aunt Setsuko?"

"That is the last I can say, I'll bid you farewell for now, until we meet again."

Masao tried to move, but felt his body being elevated into the air, back to the crack in the blue abyss. "Hey, I'm not done!"

Naoya, Eriko, Yukino, and Kei too were lifted with Masao, inching closer and closer to the void.

"Be sure to consult my servant, Igor. He is here to help you. Look for the Velvet Room."

In a flash of black, the five traversed backwards through the void, losing consciousness.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

The five returned, awaking from their comatose state. Naoya's hand still shaking in front of his face.

"What WAS that?" Yukino exclaimed. "It had to be real, not another dream, right?"

Kei puffed up his upper torso, crossing his arms. " 'Truth is stranger than fiction' evidently."

Eriko's face became pink with excitement. "To be present for another once-in-a-lifetime-event is magnificent!"

Masao punched a bare section of the Shrine's wall. "_He never let me ask about Maki._"

"He said there were four more of the strong willed." Kei stated.

"And a servant of his named Igor. Where are we suppose to find him?" Yukino added.

"The Velvet Room," Naoya answered. "Philemon said search for the Velvet Room. That's were Igor is."

Setsuko groaned in pain.

"Hey, did you forget about Maki's mother here?" Masao asked.

"We have to move her to the school and think of a plan of action from there." Kei replied.

"W-w-wait." She weakly said. "Let me explain what happened." Setsuko tried to stand. Naoya stopped her. Kei and him put their arms around her, supporting her back, raising her gently off the ground.

"You can fill us in on the way to the school, Aunt Setsuko."

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"The gunshot wound," Kei paused, waiting for Yukino to catch up after retrieving a thrown razorblade at a demon. "Who did it to you?"

"Kandori's…goons," Setsuko rested her head on Naoya's shoulder.

Kei ceased walking, nearly dropping Setsuko, he appeared startled. "Kandori! Takehisa Kandori! The president of S.E.B.E.C.?" Kei looked away at Setsuko's nodding head. "_I knew he had to be involved in this._"

"The alterations to this town…Kandori's behind them all."

"How?" Masao out-right asked. He kept his axe firmly in one hand, scanning the skies for anymore of the three-talon crows.

"I…was involved in the development of a certain device."

"A device," Kei spoke up. "And you're saying this machine is the causing the changes?"

"It's called the Deva System."

"What's Deva mean?" Yukino asked, not having a clue.

"In the Verdic Period, a deva was a member of a class of benevolent divine beings." Eriko replied.

She'd studied several periods of history during her overseas education. She especially enjoyed mythology in the different periods. The variations of the same god or goddess fueled the fire for her occult fascination.

"That's in the Verdic Period only." Naoya stated. He paid attention in history class, knowing the full definitions of Deva. "Nowadays, Deva, is generally defined as a god."

"_He's so brilliant!_" Eriko gushed in her thoughts, her cheeks red, and eyes locked on Naoya's handsome face.

"Go on, Aunt Setsuko."

"The Deva System…it's engineered to affect reality. I didn't think it could do this. Kandori said he doesn't care what happens to this town. I have to hurry to the police."

Eriko put her hand to her mouth. "Oh dear, I'd forgotten. Ms. Sonomura, on the way to the hospital, I ran by the police station liked you asked and it was overrun by demons."

"My God! Kandori has to be stopped!"

"How did you escape, ma'am?" Masao asked, moving closer to Kei and Naoya.

"After I was shot, I escaped through the abandoned factory. It has a secret freight entrance. Use my…" Setsuko's voice softened, her words fading. Her eyes shut.

"Aunt Setsuko!"

"Take is easy, Todo. She's fainted."

"She lost too much blood!" Yukino exclaimed. "We gotta get her to the school, quick!

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Naoya sat in Nurse Natsumi's infirmary bed for the second time that day. They had managed to bring Setsuko to the school in time. Nurse Natsumi currently was stitching her wound. She said Setsuko would be unconscious for awhile, but will be fine.

Masao and Eriko sat besides him on the bed. Kei and Yukino were in the two chairs by the door.

"_Takahisa Kandori, the president of S.E.B.E.C. and a child prodigy. When I met you back at a business party hosted by my father, you were a despicable man, the worst of the worst. You caused Yamaoka's death, you life is mine._"

"_Takahisa Kandori, huh? I have no friggin' clue who he is, but I do know his use of the Deva System is how Maki's disappeared. He won't get away with this. Normally, I'd tag up every inch of his building, but with my Persona I'm gonna kick the living shit out of him._"

Naoya clenched his fist, the fingers momentarily shaking. "_I can't stop shaking. Why? I'm not afraid. I fought zombies for Christ sake. Correction, I didn't fight them, my other self did. Is that what I'm afraid of, that I won't be me anymore, myself as of right now is the façade? I don't know._"

Yukino nestled her head on Kei's shoulder. Kei's cheeks showed his embarrassment. She was exhausted. They all were. The fighting, the running, the lost lives, the riddles, Setsuko story behind the recent events, it all was a lot to take in at once and the strenuous actions they had performed left them unable to fully process it all.

Natsumi removed her gloves with an elastic snap. She sharply exhaled her breath, dumping her bloody needle and thread taken from the Home Economics room.

"How is she, Nurse Natsumi?" Naoya asked still concerned.

"She's fine, Naoya. It wasn't a serious injury. It's the blood loss and exhaustion that worries me. So for now, she needs to rest. Why don't you kids go to the cafeteria. Ms. Saeko told me to send you there when I finished. According to Hanya, we have enough bread and milk to last us two weeks."

Naoya's, Masao's, and Kei's stomachs' growled. They hadn't eaten any food since lunch and that was six hours ago. The sun had begun to set.

"So, hurry along, the five of you. I promise, Ms. Sonomura is in good hands."

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"Ah! No way, you guys are, like, alive!" Ayase, drinking a carton of milk, greeted the returned students with a clueless look. "I thought for sure you were done in by monsters."

The other first and second years, crowded at the lunch tables, looked on, flabbergasted expression plastered on their faces.

Eriko smacked her lips, flipping her hair. "Somehow I think Ayase, seems disappointed."

Ayase put on an innocent countenance. "Eh, that's not it at all. How was it? Were there, like, monsters?"

Eriko twiddled her thumbs. "Eh, about that…"

"YO! Congratulations on returning alive and well! We started to think you guys had died!" Hidehiko blurted out, seemingly appearing out of nowhere.

Naoya slammed his face into his palm. "_Something tells me the ambiguously disastrous duo has started the rumor mill again._"

Ayase and Hidehiko generally never interacted, unless your including telephoning. The two had a romance about them when it came to gossip, lying and spreading any information to the other classrooms. Any tiny bit of information, possibly speculation, if it reached their ears, chances are every inch of story would be over exaggerated and ridiculous by the end of the day. In Ayase's case, scandalous, Hidehiko's case ludicrous.

"Foods by the counter if you guys are, like, hungry." Ayase and Hidehiko bolted to their seats.

"_Definitely started the rumor mill. I hope a plaque isn't in the material this time._"

The five grabbed their bread, sodas, and rice situating themselves at a table far away from everyone else.

Masao bit into his bread roll and drank a sip of his Cielo Mist (A/N). "So, what do we do?"

No one answered.

"Come on, isn't it obvious. We're going to march over to S.E.B.E.C. and shut down that bastard, Kandori." Masao gritted his teeth, anger on his face and distress in his eyes. "Then, everything'll be finished!"

Naoya propped his head up. "I wonder if it'll go that easily, Mark."

"What, Nao?"

"S.E.B.E.C. is supposedly to have a private army of secret police. If something happens at S.E.B.E.C. then we need to know how to deal with it. We should wait for when Aunt Setsuko wakes up."

Masao slammed his hand on the table, spilling his Cielo Mist. "We're supposed to wait that long?"

"Mark?"

Masao ruffled his hat, rising to his feet. "It's not necessary to be that careful. We have Perso-"

Kei cut him off. "Masao." They had agreed to keep their Personas a secret as best as they could.

"We have "those" don't we? We don't have to be scared of S.E.B.E.C. or anything! Let's just march over there now and-"

"You say something about S.E.B.E.C., Masao?" A student standing behind Masao, had overheard his outburst.

"What? You want something?" Masao said, trying to draw attention away from S.E.B.E.C.

"What's this S.E.B.E.C.?" Another student asked.

The first student replied. "You don't know? They built that giant building that looks haunted."

"Ah, uh," The second student stammered.

"No way! You, like, didn't know that!" Ayase yelled, sitting on the top of a lunch table. When Ayase opened her mouth sooner or later the whole room would start talking. "It's because this city is jinxed! S.E.B.E.C. is like totally super famous! Maybe even the monsters are because of the jinx!"

A female student sitting near Ayase panicked at her theories. "Hey, quit it!"

A third male student challenged Ayase's opinion. "I'm telling you that's not it! I've thought about this! That company definitely has to be making biological weapons! Those monsters around the city are guys that escaped from there!"

A fourth student challenged the third's opinion. "Isn't that from Citizen Evil (A/N)?"

Two other female students began to converse out-loud. "What? What are they talking about?"

"S.E.B.E.C., you know that."

Several students joined in on the open discussion.

A quiet student, his dark purplish hair covering his eyes, nonchalantly ate his bread. At every bit his chewing became more and more aggressive due to the consistent amount of mindless chatter.

"Hey, now that you mention it, about two months ago didn't Chisato and Yosuke go missing. Could that be because of the jinx?"

"Eh? That was an elopement wasn't it?"

A roughed-skinned finger rose in the air, directing the attention to the student who raised it: Tsutomu, the Devil-Boy, as the students and the teachers called him, because he often wore an Noh Mask with a pentagram etched into the forehead. The other reason was his ridiculous obsession with the occult. Far beyond Eriko's fascination, Tsutomu lived, breathed, and sweated the occult and demonology. It would be either spouting factoids of demons in history class or making absurd statements in the cafeteria about how the demons would one day walk the streets. Unfortunately, now everyone who previously though he was an idiot, followed his exact words.

"Muwahaha…That's wrong." Tsutomu said, empathizing each word in a deep voice. "It's not because of something like a jinx. This St. Hermelin High School has a curse handed down." He wagged his finger. "You didn't know? This high school has a history of students disappearing around the time of the cultural festival, when the Snow Queen (A/N) play is enacted. This case to is defini-"

A shower of milk out of Ayase's carton splashed in the masked face of Tsutomu. "GEEZ! Stop talking about unpleasant things, jerk! We have to, like, stay here tonight!" Ayase apparently forgot she brought up the subject in the first place, but that's just how her brain worked: not at all. "I'm super pissed, you insensitive jerk! What are you, like, thinking?"

The student who originally overheard the conversation, turned to Masao. "So, you guys are okay, right?"

Masao put his hands behind his head, pulling his hat over his eyes. "We were lucky." he lied. "Besides we can't go home anyway."

"What? We can't get out of the city? What do you mean by that?"

Yukino threw her bread roll at the back of his head. "You idiot! You weren't suppose to tell them that." she muttered under her breath.

Masao quickly tried to change the subject, again. "W-well, I don't really know either, but until we can go home, we have to come back, here!"

"No way are you serious? Then what are we suppose to do?"

"Nooo! I want to go home!"

The quiet student, brutally devoured the last morsel. He tugged on his crimson fingerless gloves, an annoyance in his clenching fists at the continuous spree of worried blabber.

Masao tried to resolve the situation. "H-Hey, calm down,"

The quiet student canceled the chatter with a bang of his massive fist, like a judge's gavel, on the top of his lone table.

The students occupying the cafeteria scrutinized the student, including Masao, Naoya, Kei, Yukino, and Eriko. The student, other than wearing fingerless gloves, wore a choker on his neck, a chain hanging off it The most interesting part about the student, on his forehead, was a perfect "X" shape scar between his outstretching dark purple bangs.

"SHIT! Don't make such a goddamn fuss over stupid-ass rumors!" he spat, his canines showing and seeming especially sharp. He rammed passed the students in his way and slammed the door to the cafeteria behind him.

The students returned to their respective tables to finish their food before Hanya called lights-out for the night.

Eriko put her hand to her mouth. "Oh my. This is the first time I've seen him speak so loudly."

"Reiji Kido, doesn't talk at all normally." Naoya added.

"He's a transfer student, right?" Yukino asked.

A female student with Ayase swooned over Reiji. "He's so cute isn't he, Ayase?"

"Knock it off! That guy's like so unsociable." Ayase enjoyed to flirt with the guys at St. Hermelin as much as Nurse Natsumi, but was only interested in handsome, rich, and sociable boys.

"Eh, but he's so masculine and handsome and cool."

Hidehiko sat himself at the table, a sly grin on his face. "That guys definitely a coward at heart y'know?" Hidehiko threw his arm around the girl. "The real big-shot is me y'know, smiling brightly like always. Demons or whatever no big deal. I'm much more cooler and handsomer."

Hidehiko's ego was usually the size of a blimp. He'd constantly rave on about his good looks and cool demeanor, but at heart he was a coward. He'd never get into any conflicts if he could help it. He would talk himself out of the situation or lie it away.

Masao sat back in his spot, eating his bread.

"We were saved by that commotion." Kei said, fiddling with Yamaoka's glasses in his breast pocket. "Truly, if word of the Personas were to get out. I don't know what we would do. This is something we need to keep a secret."

A banging on the cafeteria doors was heard. They slide open, a shinai swinging in a circular motion poked through. "Time for lights-out! If you aren't done eating, package it up! We need to conserve our food supply! When you are done, head to the gym and find a cot or mat!"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

* * *

><p>(AN) Cielo Mist is a little personal reference to Persona 3 and the major fans of it. Of course, it's a play on the similar drink and Cielo is a reference to the character Cielo in SMT: Digital Devil Saga. Citizen Evil, a play on Resident Evil, which is actually a thing from the manga were the student is talking about biological weapons and another said "Isn't that from Biohazard." Biohazard being the Japanese name for the Resident Evil franchise. So, I thought I role with the reference, but with a play on it. For the record, I am a fan of RE. For the Snow Queen thing, I was refering to the Snow Queen Quest in which in the towers which are the dungeons, the masters of those towers are people who played the part of Snow Queen in the play and disappeared. I was a little reference to the Snow Queen Quest, because as I said I can't fit it in this novelization.

Okay, that's Chapter Four to a close. I will admit, I rush the beginning a little bit, didn't like how it turned out, but near the end I liked it. Now their originally was suppose to be more to this chapter, but as I said last time I'm not trying to cramming a crapton of content into one chapter like last time. The reason that the scenes I had planned to end the chapter off with were moved because I'd forgotten I had to introduce the barrier around Mikage. Plus, it would've ended with a cliffhanger anyway. Also that means the next chapter will be longer than originally intended. Either way, I hope you enjoyed Chapter Four of Persona: Be Your True Mind and I'll see you next time for Chapter Five: Maki.


	5. Chapter 5: Maki

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything._

Okay, answering a few questions for RaidEye again: Eriko is kinda like that in the game. She's some what level headed until you introduce the occult and then bam she's off to her own kinda fantasy land and its specifically stated in the game she has a deep-seated crush for the M.C., so I'm trying to roll with it the best I can. As for the different POVs, I originally wanted this to be entirely in Naoya's point of view, but I realized that some parts of the game would be better explained if I didn't. So, not everyone is going to have their own perspectives around the time when everyone becomes one group, but Naoya, Masao, Kei, and Maki will still have their own POVs because of the fact that in the game they are technically the four main protagonists. Also, its hard to express the character's personalities because P1 and P2 are a lot different than P3 and P4 in the sense that there isn't loads of dialogue and cut scenes everywhere to express all the characters, so I'm trying the best I can to do that. As for the scene in the cafeteria, I believe I said at the end of the chapter, not sure, but that whole cafeteria scene was in the manga and I thought it was a nice establishing scene for the characters Reiji Kido and Tsutomu, so I used it, but in the actual game terms: There isn't any downtime between bringing Setsuko to the school and heading off to the Police Station, but since I want to utilize all the characters into the main plot, I'm using, but putting my own tiny spins on scenes from the manga, which by the end of this chapter I won't be able to do anymore, because of there are only the beginning six chapter translated and you can't find the rest of it anywhere, so, I'll be working with my own imagination and what the game gives me. Hope that helped, dude. Like I said trying my best to use what I can and develop the characters as they should be developing.

I'd like to start off by saying the upload schedule for P: BYTM will probably be a chapter a week, on either day between Wednesday and Saturday. It all depends on my writer's block or inspiration. Now, this chapter, is a little bit of the manga mixed with my own modifications. In the manga the fight in this were Ayase's Persona awakens is taken from the Snow Queen Quest were a kid named Toro uses his Persona, Mara, to attack Ayase because she rejected him. I'm basically using that, but the attacker isn't Toro and Mara. Other than that, a little bit of character specific scenes and internal dialogue, but the main quest is basically on the edge of being on the roll. At the end of Chapter Six, it will be. With that aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind Chapter Five.

* * *

><p><em>Chapter Five: Maki<em>

Yukino quietly stepped on the tiled floor of the school in the dark. Her school blazer was hung over her shoulders. She had left the gym without anyone noticing. She found she couldn't sleep, the image of Yamaoka's death haunted her whenever she shut her eyes.

"_Where's the faculty lounge? I hope Ms. Saeko is there. I need to talk to her._"

Yukino's grasped the handle of the door to the lounge, sliding it inward. The room was dark, but it wasn't pitch black. She looked farther in at the coffee pot and a turned-on desk lamp. Yukino recognized the familiar blue hair and yellow coat by the coffee pot, pouring it's contents into a mug.

She entered. "Ms. Saeko?"

Saeko, who had sat by the lamp, almost let the mug fall out of her hands, startled slightly by Yukino's voice. "Oh, Yukino? What are you doing here? You should be sleeping?"

Yukino sat besides Saeko. "I can't sleep." she said.

"Why is that? What's bothering you?"

"_She always acts the part of a therapist._" Yukino hung her coat on the chair. "Death."

"Eh? What do you mean by death, Yukino?" Saeko had set aside her coffee, paying close attention to Yukino.

"So much happened at that hospital you wouldn't believe. It was normal, we checked in and were told to wait, but Kei's butler Yamaoka showed up."

"What next?"

"We decided to visit Maki while we waited. When we went to her room, I felt so disgusted with myself. Her mother never visits, Masao is the only one who comes to see her often, Naoya occasional, but for the most part she's there, trapped in that room, all by herself."

"Is that what's been bothering you?"

Yukino shook her head. "Sorta. The worst was yet to come by that point. Maki had to be sent to the I.C.U. An earthquake hit,"

"We felt it here too. Then the demons appeared."

"The I.C.U. disappeared and we worked our way downstairs towards a scream we heard. A nurse was being attacked by these zombies, the stench was burning my nostrils. It was everywhere."

"Was the nurse killed?"

"No, I don't think so, but Kei's butler Yamaoka he…" Yukino paused, her lips trembling. She froze, unable to finish the sentence, reliving the events in her head.

Saeko lowered her head. She understood without Yukino having to say it. She put her arm around Yukino, holding her close, the young girls head resting in the nape of her neck.

"N-now whenever I shut my eyes I smell it, the scent of death. I see the blood, the tears, Yamaoka's face, the zombies! I can't stop seeing Yamaoka's lifeless body at Kei's feet and imagining that what I would feel if it was you Ms. Saeko! I couldn't even feel sadness when Maki was sent to the I.C.U.!"

Yukino's grimaced. Saeko closed her eyes, brushing Yukino's hair with her hand. Ms. Saeko had some what of a maternal relationship with Yukino, just as Yukino had a maternal relationship with her friends. She helped Yukino with her problems, not as her teacher, not as a guidance counselor, but her friend.

"Yukino, it's okay. I'm right her. There's no need to worry."

"N-no, Ms. Saeko, I'm not worried you'll die, I'm worried that I'm a terrible person, because I couldn't feel bad for Maki and at Yamaoka's death I can see it in my head over and over, but it doesn't make me feel anything other than uneasiness. I'm afraid I'm going to be this callous and emotionless all my life."

"Yukino, no one is incapable of not feeling any emotions. You know Masao, he's a very empathic person; he feels the emotions of others, but he answers those recognized emotion with his anger. You're not a emotionless shell Yukino, your feeling the grief of a death, the sorrow that comes with it. You just don't realize or to go with the example recognize it. Just how Masao retorts the recognized emotion with his anger, you retort to it in self-judgment and loathing. You aren't a terrible person Yukino, I can see the care you have for others, the bravery you display, and maybe a little bit of a crush."

Yukino blushed, jokingly chuckling. "_How'd she…?_"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Naoya splashed water onto his face. He rested his hands on the sides of grimy school bathroom sink, peering at his reflection in the mirror. He'd tossed and turned in his sleep. Not only were the mats uncomfortable, but his mind was full of questions.

"_Inside of me is hundred of other selves. Is this self, Naoya Todo, me, the real self or is it another one inside of me? Is my Persona my true self, which is the real one?_"

Naoya roamed the halls. He considered going back to the gym, but there wasn't a point. He wouldn't be able to sleep. He decided to go to the Infirmary, to see Setsuko.

"_If she isn't awake yet I can at least stay by her side._"

Naoya patiently waited by Setsuko Sonomura's side. Nurse Natsumi had fallen asleep on her desk. She wouldn't have mind either way. Setsuko's remained motionless. Naoya hunched his back forward, shutting his eyes, his mind jumbled with unanswered questions. He tried to disregard most of it for the time being, but Naoya always had at the tiniest question in the back of his head. A question Maki asked him ten years ago in his backyard when they were seven.

Maki spent her time at the Todo residence when her mother ran her work shift at S.E.B.E.C. They used to lay themselves on the cut, lush green grass, admiring the clouds in the cerulean sky, not a care in the word. Each day with Maki was like this until one afternoon where Maki asked Naoya a question he would try to find the answer to for the rest of his life.

"Nao-kun?"

"Yeah."

"What do you live for? Your reason?"

Naoya couldn't answer. He was surprised Maki asked a question. She was purely curiously. She probably didn't know her own answer to the question, but neither did Naoya. He answered with a "I don't know" and if he was asked the question again today, his answer would be different, but mean the same.

"Nao-kun."

Naoya opened his eyes, Setsuko rousing.

"Aunt Setsuko, I want to ask you something?"

Setsuko rubbed her eyes. "Go ahead, Nao-kun."

"How did you manage to escape from S.E.B.E.C. I heard they had an incredible army of SPs (Secret Police), but…"

"Yes, well. I'm more knowledgeable about the inside of the research facility. The research establishment was hidden underground for the sake of keeping it classified. It has a very complicated construction. I forged an I.D. card and unrestricted pass and escaped through an opening I saw in a connected abandoned factory's entrance gate, but…" Setsuko perspired, her head in her palms.

Naoya stood, moving close. "Aunt Setsuko?"

"Is Maki, okay, I wonder…." Her vexed skin dripped with the new sweat and tears. "With things becoming like this...by herself and with her fragile heart, I thought I could at least be with her. Oh God please let her be safe!"

Setsuko sobbed into her hands, choking on her dejection.

"Aunt Setsuko, go back to bed, I'll make sure Maki is safe." Naoya grabbed her shoulders, tucking her back under the covers. "I'll find her and stop the Deva System, I promise." Naoya gave her a reassuring smile.

"Go into the pocket of my blazer. The forged identification is there. You'll need it to access the entrance in the abandoned factory."

Setsuko returned to her sleep, relieved. She knew Naoya could take care of himself, he'd find Maki for sure, but entering into SEBEC was another story. Kandori would have each of the four floors guarded including the Deva System and his office. If she hadn't seen what the teens called Personas, she would've never let Nao go on a suicide mission.

Naoya dug into the pocket of the coat folded on the second chair. He extracted the cobalt blue piece of plastic, marked in bolded gray letters "S.E.B.E.C." on the front and a barcode on the back. The logo of the company was in the circle of an ankh. The sides of circle with curved lines resembling horns.

"_I'll gather up Masao, Kei, Yukino, and Eriko in the morning. With the cardkey, we can go into the S.E.B.E.C. building without being detected. We shouldn't go in totally unarmed, with only our Personas to fight with. Eriko had a fencing rapier, maybe there's more. I'll go check and see if I can borrow one._"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"I told you, Mark, I won't say anything."

"Brown, shut up and stop fuckin' following me."

Masao snuck out of the gym with his bag of supplies, planning to leave the school via the fraction in the wall in the passage way to the gym. He was determined to go to S.E.B.E.C. and take Kandori down to find Maki and fix Mikage. Unfortunately Hidehiko tailed him.

"You can't come. I told you there are demons out there."

Hidehiko wagged his finger. "There you go again. You guys came back fine. Saying those sorts of things, you were planning on running away by yourself to a safe place, right?"

Masao held a fist back. "No, you moron. It's not like that."

"Masao, Hidehiko,"

The two turned around, seeing Kei standing tall, his arms crossed.

"Nanjo!"

"Where are you sneaking off to in the middle of the night?"

Masao eyes narrowed. "You can't stop me, Nanjo! I'm going to S.E.B.E.C. to stop the Deva System and save Maki!"

"_Maki? Maki Sonomura,_" Hidehiko thought. "_How is she involved in this?_" Below his confused countenance, Hidehiko spread his cheeks in a menacing smile. "_This is interesting. I can work with this. I can take the credit for saving Sonomura when in reality Masao did all the work. Her mother is suppose be an engineer at S.E.B.E.C. which means she might be loaded. I'd say a humble reward for rescuing her daughter is one billion dollars._" Hidehiko had put his pinky to his lip.

"I wasn't going to stop you, Masao. Keep your voice down. If Hanya catches us, we're screwed."

"Whaddaya mean catches "us."

"I'm going with you. I have business to discuss with Takahisa Kandori."

"_Shit, Kei Nanjo, is involved now. More people means more splits in the reward. Wait, Nanjo is rich, he doesn't need his share. I'll take it with my brilliant wit and charmingly good looks, like always._"

Hidehiko was a conniving little snot. He wanted easy money. A modern day Tom Sawyer as he was. There was a time he actually sold a story to the school paper that Hanya and Principle Ooishi were having an affair, even supplied pictures, later proven to be doctored. That was the end of the school paper, Hidehiko never got caught, because he anonymously sent the story, the students in charge of publishing the stories took the hit, and Hidehiko had made three thousand yen (A/N: Ruffly 30 bucks) without breaking a sweat.

The three came up on the passageway, opening the door, noticing the planks of wood, cinderblocks, desks, and boxes used to plug the whole were chucked to the side. A lone figure, thumbs hooked on the outer edge of his pockets, wearing fingerless gloves, and creating the sound of rattling chain at each step casaully walked out.

Masao ran after him. "Hey, dude, wait! There's demons in the city!"

"Piss off!" Is all the figure said, continuing to walk away from the school.

"Wasn't that Reiji Kido?" Masao asked.

"What purpose does he hold for exiting the school late at night?" Kei asked to no one in particular.

"Well, let's get moving!"

"Hold it, Masao. I wish to go to the Police Station first."

"Why? You heard Eriko, the place is infested with demons."

"Perhaps we can obtain some equipment that could aid us in the raid on S.E.B.E.C."

"How do you propose we do that then, Nanjo."

"I know you and I are the complete opposites of each others personalities, but if we want to survive this mess, we'll have to work together." Kei extended his hand.

Masao scratched the back of his head, titling it to the left as Hidehiko looked on. He smacked Kei's hand and shook it.

"Okay, Nanjo, you and me."

"Now, with that settled. We head to the police station and combine our Personas abilities to clear it out."

"Right." Masao nodded. "Brown, stay here."

"_Shit, have to come up with an excuse._" Brown nervously grinned. "I want to go save Sonomura, like you Masao."

"Brown, you never talked to Maki."

In a normal situation with a normal person, they might've started choking on their words, but this was Hidehiko "Brown" Uesugi, an tremendously odd person in an odd situation.

"You should've memorized the classic motivation by this decade Masao. Maki is the damsel in distress, the Toadstool to my Plummer. Why does the hero rescue the damsel, without any reward, because it is the right thing that the greatest, coolest, and handsomest hero does."

"Brown, you're full of shit."

"Doesn't matter Masao. Believe what you want to believe. I, the noble, debonair, and exceptional Hidehiko "Brown" Uesugi will follow you till the bones of my feet are worn if I can rescue the damsel."

"Okay, Brown, you can come," Masao bit his lip. "But cut the shit about this hero crap. You ain't foolin anyone."

Kei pushed his glasses up. "_If we're lucky, he'll die on the way. Then, no one will have to deal with his absurd lies ever again._"

Kei legitimately loathed Hidehiko's existence. He hated his arrogance, his ego, his constant stupid jokes he'd spout during class, lunch, and after school, and his manner of taking nothing seriously unless it benefited him.

"_The last thing we need during this is dead-weight._"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Eriko sat in a rickety metal chair at a wooden table in the Fencing Club's designated room. The room had posters of swords and tournament listings on the wall. Two sets of four lockers were on the sides of the room which held the equipment.

Eriko polished her sword, removing any blood left by the demons she had struck. The blood gutters on the blade were design to drain the blood, but the demon blood wasn't a full liquid form, it was a mucus-like substance that stuck to the edge and tip of the weapon. She'd spent several minutes to an hour removing the blood before it dried prior to polishing.

"_The city has changed because of the Deva System. I can feel we're suppose to do something about it. As much as I appreciate the experience, this is dangerous. Without our Personas, given to us by Philemon, we would've died out there. At the start I felt a euphoria, but now it's a serious matter. Ms. Setsuko was shot for trying to stop this. What are this president Kandori's goals and how despicable does he have to be to effect Mikage to achieve them?_"

Eriko sheathed her rapier, finished cleaning and polishing it. "_I hadn't noticed how late it was. Thankfully no teacher seemed to notice I wasn't in the gym. Now, that I'm done with my sword, I'll be on my way to sleep._"

Eriko lifted herself from the chair, attaching the scabbard in the belt she wore on the waist of the school uniform. The door to the Fencing Club's room slid open, revealing a surprised.

"Oh, Naoya, what are you doing here?" Eriko asked equally surprised.

"Aunt Setsuko woke up."

"That's wonderful, how is she."

"She's worried for Maki like the rest of us. I managed to get a card she forged to escape S.E.B.E.C." Naoya showed Eriko the blue card.

"So, we can go to S.E.B.E.C. now?"

"There's a secret entrance in an abandoned factory near the building. I was thinking in the early morning, Kei, Masao, Yukino, you, and I could go and shut down the Deva System and look for Maki. That's if you're okay with going."

Eriko hid her explosion of joy. "Of course!" she said gleefully.

Naoya smiled back. "Thanks. I also wanted to see if there were a few extra swords."

"Sorry, Nao, Hanya cleared out all the shinai's from the Kendo Team and all the rapiers. Mine is the last one."

"Damn." Naoya closed his eyes. "We shouldn't go on a raid against S.E.B.E.C. with just Personas."

Eriko pondered on a thought she had, holding her chin. She snapped her fingers. "The Archery Team might keep a few extra bows and arrows."

Naoya's sweat dropped. "I can't use a bow and arrow."

Eriko ran to Naoya's side, grabbing his hand. "It's worth a try." Eriko ran up the hallway to the Archery Team's room, Naoya being dragged like a rag doll behind her.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Ayase leaned on a desk in a vacant classroom. Five other students in the classroom with her, were by the open window. They were smoking cigarettes and flicking the ashes and blowing their drags outside, with intent to not be discovered by Hanya or any of the other teachers.

Ayase sighed, doing up her pigtails. She wanted her beauty sleep. The normal gang of students she hung out with had woken her up so they could smoke and shoot the breeze. Ayase figured it be better to go then end up alone if she couldn't go back to sleep.

"_I hate cigarettes._" she thought, sighing again. "_I like totally hate those idiots too._"

Ayase never cared for people in general. She disliked conversations that didn't suit her interests, ironically her "friends" were in the middle of one of them now. The three boys and two girls were discussing their brand of smokes.

"Yo, Yuka! You gonna light one up?" One of the boys asked, offering her a cigarette.

Ayase half-frowned, nervously giggling. "Like, no, thanks. Not in the mood."

"Suit yourself," The boy lit the additional cigarette in his mouth. "Pussy," he whispered, causing the two girls to cackle lightly. (A/N: For the record, I personally hate smoking.)

"_I heard you, asshole. It wasn't even funny._" Ayase wanted to say that, but they'd be pissed, either leave or kick her out and she didn't want to be alone.

Ayase suffered from autophobia, a fear of being by herself. She often had anxieties as a child and her current years when she wasn't listened too, her parents paid attention to her, or if she wasn't in her own clique. She pretended to be a diverse person to gain entrance into one of the cliques in St. Hermelin. She fell into the popular crowd; the five so-called friends besides her that woke her up in the middle of a comfy slumber, fully aware she doesn't smoke at all hours, to drag her along to be tortured by tedious, trivial, stupid, and low-key banter.

"_Assholes,_"

Two desks in the front row fell over. The stomping of feet and scratching claws could be heard. A silhouetted burly figure steadily strolled in between the rows of desks, an orb-shaped head chafed against the ceiling lights, muscular limbs sending more desks to the left and right to the floor.

"Holy shit!" One student yelled, the cigarette falling out of his agape mouth.

Ayase noticed the figure, running to the wall. She saw the door to the classroom was wide open. The creature must've opened it without them noticing.

The figure breathed heavy, it's eyes glowing a feral red. "MEAT!" it grunted in a raspy, beastly voice.

"What the fuck is that?"

"How'd it get in here?"

The girls, including Ayase screamed. "HELP!"

"Fuck that! We're running!"

The demon hearing their words, grabbed a desk with it's near boulder-sized fist and chucked it forward, throwing the desk in front of him into a shower of heavy weight.

"RUN QUICK!"

The boys charged slightly to the right, trying to reach the door. Ayase tripped on the floor, the shower of desks raining almost fully on top of her. The desk essentially made a crowded fort, with Ayase stuck inside, a movement of the bottom desks could've caused the weight to fall on her.

"Nothin's better than trapped prey! HAHAHAHA!" The demon laughed wildly.

The remaining students were swiftly moving, being grazed by the desks, just away from the width of the barrage, before they fell around Ayase.

"LIKE, HELP!" Ayase yelled.

The students, paying no mind to Ayase's cries, ran as fast as their legs would allow, passed the demon, who slashed one of the boys' shoulder, almost taking his arm, and through the door, the two girls screaming.

"HAHAHA! I'm glad some dumb ass opened a hole in the wall! I couldn't be asked to work for my food! HAHAHA! I just didn't expect to sniff fresh meat so earlier into the hunt! HAHAHA!"

"_How can he be laughing?_" Ayase tried to move. "_Shit! I'm, like, stuck! Maybe if I scream again!_" Ayase inhaled a deep, deep breath. "HHHHHEEEEEEELLLLLLPPPPPP!"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Naoya and Eriko found a lone short bow in the Archery Club's room. Beside it, in a unlocked locker was a quiver of twenty five arrows, fletched with white feathers.

"A bow's worth more than nothing." Naoya stated, holding the quiver and bow under his arm.

"Maki used to be in the Archery Club, right?" Eriko said, shutting the doors to the room after switching the lights off.

The two proceeded down the hall. "Yeah. She was accurate, too. She was forced to quit the team because of her health issues unfortunately."

"So, tomorrow at the sunrise, we go?" Eriko asked, changing the subject away from Maki.

"Uh?" Naoya tried to form an answer. It escape his mind he'd said that earlier. "Oh, yeah, of course, Eriko. I want to see what Yukino's going to do too though. Masao and Kei are positively in, but we need all the support we can get."

Eriko smacked her lips. "I understand, brave leader." Eriko jokingly said.

"B-b-brave leader," Naoya pointed his finger to himself. "Me!"

"From what Yukino told me, you were very brave at the hospital, taking charge and commanding everyone to attack."

Naoya was embarrassed. He fiddled with his earring. "_Weird, it's like I wasn't myself back at the hospital._ _If I'm assumed to be a brave leader, why'd I let a innocent man die back there._"

"HHHHHEEEEEEELLLLLLPPPPPP!"

Naoya and Eriko stopped. Naoya turned to Eriko. "That was Ayase's voice." he said.

"She's in trouble."

"We better double-time it. Her screams sound like they're around the corner in a classroom adjacent to the gym."

Yukino sipped her coffee with Ms. Saeko. Yukino explained the entire story to her in the last half-an-hour, including the Personas, S.E.B.E.C., the Deva System, and Takahisa Kandori.

"Yukino, are you done with your coffee, because I want you to go back to the gym and sleep. You're exhausted."

Yukino stood up. "Okay, Ms. Saeko, I'll see you tomorrow." Yukino grasped the door, Ms. Saeko abreast to her.

"HHHHHEEEEEEELLLLLLPPPPPP!"

Yukino's eyes broaden. "Ayase…I'm sorry, Ms. Saeko, I'll sleep when Ayase's safe."

"No, Yukino, it's too dangerous." Ms. Saeko gripped her student's arm on the door.

"What are the chances of the others making it in time? We're the only ones in this school who can fight those demons efficiently."

Ms. Saeko sighed, shaking her head back and forth. She knew she couldn't stop Yukino when she's headstrong.

"I'll wait for you in the passageway to the gym, the one with the hole, because after this you're getting a good-night's worth of sleep, I'll explain to Hanya what happened."

"Thanks, Ms. Saeko!" Yukino burst into the hall. "This won't take long!" And with that Yukino disappeared into the darkened corridors of the school, in the direction Ms. Saeko, persistently shaking her head, would follow to the hole in the brick wall.

Naoya and Eriko arrived at the classroom in a matter of moments. They went in the classroom, hearing a crazy laugh. Eriko hit the lights, covering a gasp.

A red-skinned, burly, feral demon stood fifteen feet tall, a dome-shaped head touching the ceiling. It's eyes glowed as red as it's skin. Fangs filled a slobbering mouth.

"HAHAHA! More meat's arrived! You lucked out, girl, you get to be last!"

"LIKE, WHOEVER'S THERE, HELP! I'M STUCK UNDER THE DESKS!"

"Ayase!" Naoya instinctively wanted to run to her, but the demon growled a mixture of a human yell and a lion's roar.

"You wanna be the appetizer?"

"Be careful, Nao, that's an oni!" Eriko drew her rapier, remembering a demonic encyclopedia she read once. "Such a shame, I just cleaned this."

"A sword, huh! A fighter, I like that! HAHAHA! You'll be last!"

"LIKE HELP ME PLEASE!"

"Shut up, girl! You know what, you two stay right there, you'll be the main course! I'm gonna eat her to start!"

The oni turned it's back to Naoya's, throwing two desks off the pile on Ayase.

"_No, no one else dies!_" Naoya hand covered his face. "Like hell! PERSONA!"

In the velvet mist, Seimen Kongo instantly arrived, his fist balled and ready to punch.

Naoya pointed to the oni. "Seimen Kongo! Spin Kick!"

Seimen Kongo lunged forward at the demon's back, twisting his body with his extended right leg. At range of the enemy's side, Seimen Kongo untwisted, planting the spin kick into the ribs of the oni, causing him to grunt in pain. The force of the kick actually launched the oni into the chalkboard and teacher's desk, reducing the two objects to debris.

Seimen Kongo vanished.

The demon began to rise. "You're a fighter to, huh, boy? I guess I'll eat you first after all." The oni's mouth was agape. "I'll fry you up to make up for that love tap! AGI!"

At the words of the demon, a smoldering ball of fire swirled in his mouth and shot straight at Naoya and Eriko.

"Eriko watch out!" Naoya threw himself against Eriko, wrapping his arms around her, pushing her far to the left, dodging the small fireball.

The Agi spell hit the wall, leaving coal black singe marks.

Eriko and Naoya quickly recovered. "Sorry, I had to tackle ya."

"If it wasn't for that I'd be horrible burned."

"Jesus Christ! What is goin' on here?" Yukino exclaimed at the doors.

"Yukino, good thing your here. We gotta kills this thing before more shit gets out of hand."

Yukino nodded. "Where's Ayase?"

"Under the desks." Eriko informed.

"WOULD YOU GUYS HURRY IT UP!"

"Yep, that's Ayase."

"I'm a lucky demon today! I rarely ever get to chow on a four course meal! I better take my time with you! HAHA!"

"Jeez, this guy love's to laugh." Yukino's sweat dropped.

"_Shit, Naoya, think! While's he distracted! Eriko said I'm a brave leader, I should act like one_."

"Okay, here's the plan, we're gonna take this guys down in one fell swoop. I'll block his attacks, Eriko you lower his defenses, then Yukino you hit him hard."

"Understood, brave leader." Eriko held her rapier in her right hand by the left side of her face.

"Roger!" Yukino punched the air.

"Here, I go!" Naoya covered his face. "PERSONA! Seimen Kongo!"

"Time for more love taps!" Seimen Kongo appeared. "Try to dodge a dozen of my fireballs, boy! MARAGI!" The demon spat out of his ajar mouth, a total of twelve fireballs at once.

"_You can block them, Nao! You can block them!_" Naoya pointed forward. "Two can play that game, big guy! MAGARU!"

Seimen Kongo punched the air multiply times, unleashing gales of winds collided with the fireballs, the forceful spiraling winds mixing with the flurries of fire, neutralizing each other..

"Eriko now!"

"Come to me, Nike!" The goddess of victory arose, her wings folded inward. "Rakunda!" Eriko pointed her rapier at the oni. Nike unfolded her wings, casting a purplish aura over the oni.

"He's weakened, Nao!"

"Yukino, finish him!"

"Do it, Vesta!" Vesta materialized, her hands already cupped. "FREI!" The yellow energy released and bombarded the oni, creating a gray smoke cloud.

Vesta vanished as did Seimen Kongo and Nike.

"Did we kill him?" Naoya asked.

"HAHAHA! Argh!" A grunt of pain came from the oni as the smoke cleared, revealing his now red-skin melting similarly to a spent candle.

"That's disgusting! His skin's liquefied!" Yukino covered her mouth in repugnance.

"HAHAHA! Screw you kids! I'm pissed now!" The demon chucked the remaining desk backwards at the Persona Users, Ayase's head popping up. She was bawling her eyes out.

"DUCK!" The three hit the floor the desks crashing against the singed wall, destroying themselves on impact.

The demon cupped his hand around her. "HAHA! Down you go!"

"NO!" Naoya grasped the air, despair filling him. "_I CAN'T LET ANOTHER PERSON LOSE THERE LIFE!_"

"I LIKE DON'T WANNA DIE!" A familiar velvet mist fogged the classroom, Ayase's pigtails flurried upward. "Huh? Like what's going on!"

"Ayase, call out Persona! QUICK!" Naoya ordered.

"Like, Persona?" Ayase raised her eyebrow. A wave of blue energy shot out of Ayase, knocking the demon on his back, destroying the rest of the desks in the classroom.

Ayase's Persona, a slender, lanky, dancing woman appeared, her skin a greenish yellow color, but flawless none the less. Fire was in her hands, her hair itself was raging flames. A skirt and bikini of engulfing fire were the only pieces of "clothing" covering her form.

"Thou art I and I am thou!" Ayase's Persona spoke to her awestruck user in a cute, semi-squeaky, feminine voice. "I am a being that has emerged from the sea of your soul! I shall lend you my power! I am Hori!"

"Yikes! Huh? What the…like, what now?"

"You'll hear words, order you Persona with the words you hear!"

"Kay, like, Agilao." Ayase nonchalantly said, the fire in the upright hands of Hori expanding, swirling into a medium sized fireball, twice the size of the one the demon spat out. Hori threw her hands forward, launching the fireball into the oni, setting the beast on fire, reducing him to zilch.

Naoya helped Yukino and Eriko to their feet, Hori disappearing.

"Like, what the hell was that?" Naoya grabbed her hand. "Not enough time to explain right now. Surely Hanya or somebody heard something, we gotta get the hell outta here before he shows up."

"Go to the gym passageway! Ms. Saeko will be there." Yukino informed.

"We should also eliminated the means of how the oni entered the school."

"He, like, said he came in through a hole."

"Two birds with one stone then." Naoya said, dragging Ayase with him.

"But who unplugged the hole?" Eriko asked.

Naoya clenched his teeth harshly.

"Nao, you don't think Masao-"

"That's exactly what I'm thinking Eriko."

"That damn idiot's gonna get himself killed." Yukino punched her palm.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Kei wafted the stench of corpses passed his nose. An overflow of zombies had exited the busted in police station, a few in civies and other's in uniform.

Brown sat on the ground, his knees to his chest, rocking back and forth. "You guys weren't joking! They're demons in the city!"

"No shit, Brown! Too late now, you insisted!" Masao flipped him off.

"All right, Masao, we prepared for this situation. Let me start!" Kei swiped his hand to the right. "My move! PERSONA!"

Aizen Myouou appeared, twiddling it's stiletto fingers.

"Time to buff your power. Tarukaja!" Aizen Myouou opened it's arms, surrounding Masao in a golden aura.

Masao felt the muscles in his arms toughen.

"Now your speed. Sukukaja!" Aizen Myouou casted a green aura around Masao, mixing with the gold.

Masao could feel his legs strengthen.

"Next, use a physical skill."

Masao raised his axe in the air, one-handed. "Let's get funky! Ogun! Flurry Stab!"

His voodoo-stylized Persona appeared and relentlessly pierced the heads of the zombies with it's new found power and speed up.

"Step two, buff our magic! Matakaja!" A white aura surrounded Masao and Kei.

"Step Three, finish the strategy. Use a magical skill, the stronger version."

"Ogun! Gryva!" Ogun spun his spear, stomping the blunt end on the ground, summoning a medium-sized orb of gravity on the growing crowd of zombies, crushing them into bone dust.

"MAHAMA!" Aizen Myouou opened it's arms, summoning large talismans with a pool of light underneath he zombies feet. The talismans attaching on the corpses and disintegrating them with the light.

"We have created a clear path, Uesugi. You can relinquish your cowardice."

Brown immediately popped up off the payment, shrugging the events occurred in front of him off as best as his mind would allow.

"You guys are crazy! This whole town is crazy! I gotta be dreaming! Come on, Masao, pinch me! Pinch me! I gotta wake up from this nightmare!"

Masao turned, his axe resting on his shoulder as he usually did as of late.

"Sorry to tell the truth, Brown, this ain't a dream or nightmare. This is a fucked-up reality and thanks to your own stupid ass, you're stuck here with us."

"Masao is indeed correct, Uesugi. You lack the means of returning to the school safely, so as much as I dread another minute of you in our companion, you're stuck with us."

Masao tucked his axe in his backpack. "Plus I don't need your death on my conscious, Brown. UGH!"

A whacking sound was heard and Masao collapsed forward, his hand clutching his privates.

"Silly humans, you never saw it coming!" A nasally demonic voice exclaimed.

"Where's that voice-AH!"

Another whacking sound and Brown fell on Masao an egg-shaped bump on his head.

Two imp-like creatures, carrying spoons, hopped on Brown's back and proceeded to bounce up and down.

"We bagged two of them!"

Kei looked towards them. "What the?"

"What's the matter human, never seen an Ukobach!"

"I got an idea, let's take em all and cook em up later for everyone!"

"Good idea!"

"Little brats, freakin' cheap shot." Masao groaned.

"Can it, human! You're lunch!" One Ukobach hit Masao on the head with his spoon, hard.

Kei looked to the horizon, the sun was rising. They'd spent most of the nighttime fighting to the police station. The demons were unremitting and persistent. It took three times the normal amount to reach the police station. Perhaps it was due to the full moon.

"Hold on! I'll deal with these small fry!" Kei swiped his hand to the right. "PERSONA!" he called, but the mist wasn't conjured, the energy wasn't built or felt. Aizen Myouou didn't appear.

"W-what? My Persona? Where is it?"

"Hurry up! We gotta capture the third one and bring these two in before they recover!"

One of the Ukobachs leaped at Kei. Kei swatted the Ukobach backwards with a backhand. He slammed his foot on the demon's head.

"Get offa him, human! AGI!" The spoon the second Ukobach held was ignited with a fireball which the demon flung at Kei.

Kei hunched forward, avoiding the Agi skill by a hair. "_If he's going to utilize magic skills and I can't use my Persona. I'll have to work a back-up plan up. I'll head back to the school, Todo, Kirishima, or Yukino can aid in taking the police station._"

Kei started running back the way they came. "_Nanjo, you bastard._" Masao thought, the Ukobach whacking him into unconsciousness.

"Come on, we gotta get the human!"

"We got enough meat to separate for all of us for lunch. Let's lock em up and start the eating preparations."

Kei ran, bobbing and weaving to avoid the strikes of jumping Kappas and diving pecks of the three-talon crows know as Yata-Garasu.

"_I'm exhausted. I didn't sleep at all. My body's weak, my mind is frenzied, my stomach is unfilled. Could the status of my body and mind effect my ability to summon my Persona? We used the Personas many times on the way here. Thankfully there aren't a never-ending number of demons with the sun up. I can dodge the minor ones, they use physical skills. Those Ukobachs used magical skills, without my Persona I won't stand a chance. I need to figure out the problem or else me facing Kandori is impossible._"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Naoya, Eriko, Yukino, and Ayase arrived at the passage way. The hole in the brick wall was exposed, the cinderblocks, boxes, and etc. pushed to the sides. The steadily increasing radiance of the sun shined through, illuminating the majority of the room. Ms. Saeko was hastily stacking the boxes and moving the desks back, obstructing the lower rays streaming in.

"Ms. Saeko, wait." Naoya said, putting the bow and quiver on the floor. "We're heading back out, plug it up after we leave."

"Oh, no, you're not!" she replied, her hands on her hips. "You're my students, I'm your teacher, I'm not letting you go back out there to risk your young lives. I don't care if you have these Personas."

"Ms. Saeko," Yukino approached her. "It's about Mark. We think he went to do something crazy. He's already outside. We want to bring him back so he's doesn't die." Yukino lied for the last part. Really, they wanted to leave to aid Masao before he was killed.

Naoya followed Yukino's lead. "We're the only ones who can."

Ms. Saeko shook her head.

Eriko stepped up. "Please, Ms. Saeko, I promise you we'll be back alive. I'll personally protect everyone."

Ayase sat in the corner as the others tried to cajole Ms. Saeko. She was comprehending the concept of a Persona. She remembered back to when she played Persona herself. Lightning didn't strike her, she dreamt of a yellow butterfly, but that was ages ago. So long ago she'd forgotten the game completely.

"_Is Masao really, like, in trouble? Hidehiko wasn't in the gym when I left either. Nanjo was gone too. Like, I totally don't understand._"

Ms. Saeko denied her students attempts to sway her, but in the back of her head, she knew what they were saying was true. Masao very well could be out there and they very well could be the only way to save him.

She let out a defeated scoff, preparing to give her permission. She opened her mouth to speak, but shut it at the creak of the door. Someone was opening it.

Who was it, Hanya, Principle Ooishi, another member of the faculty? All in the room asked themselves, the door picking up in opening speed in a instant. The wooden door flung inward on it's hinges, gently tapping the wall.

A female student, wearing her school uniform, with neck-length brown hair framing her head waltz in, causing everyone to gasp. A red ribbon, tied in a tiny bow on the pinnacle of her hair matched her rosy cheeks, and painted lips. Her chocolate brown eyes scanned the room, a smile growing across her face at the sight of each person she gazed.

"Nao-kun! Eriko-chan! Yuka-chan! Yukino-chan! Ms. Saeko! Hey, what're you guys up to?"

Naoya smacked his forehead. "M-m-maki, is that really you."

Eriko whispered close to Yukino's ear. "I thought you said she disappeared at the hospital."

"She was also in critical condition."

"Huh?" Ayase said. "Is that you, Maki?"

"C'mon, guys, of course it is. Everyone knows good ol' Maki!"

Naoya kept his eyes on her, watching her movements. "_She isn't acting like Maki._"

Ayase pouted.

"What's wrong, Yuka?" Maki asked.

"Woah, like, something's seriously weird with her, Naoya. There's no way Maki would be that cheerful!" Ayase was always blunt and frank, regardless of others feelings.

"Huh? Yuka?" Maki raised an eyebrow. "Hey, when did that whole show up?" Maki pointed to the partially covered hole.

"Oooh, I get it…you made it, Nao-kun. Didn't you?"

"See?" Ayase shouted. "It's totally not liker her!"

"Granted, she also was suppose to be in the hospital." Eriko added.

"I'm gonna get teed off if you guys keep saying stuff like that." Maki frowned, generally looking hurt. "Do you guys WANT me to be hospitalized?"

Naoya's face grew serious. "_This isn't Maki. She may look like Maki, she may sound like Maki, but she isn't her. Maki rarely acted this merry and she won't act oblivious to being hospitalized._"

"Hey, Naoya, she may be the real Maki." Yukino said.

"Like, how can you tell? I bet she's a like totally a demon or something!"

"Isn't that her favorite compact?" Yukino pointed out.

Maki lifted her hand up, an green compact with a painted full moon on the top lid. "Now, c'mon, Yuka, quit it!"

"_That is her compact. Maki painted the moon on there herself._" Naoya thought, keeping his guard up.

Maki placed the compact in her pocket. "Although…is something different about you guys today?"

"Eh?" Naoya replied.

"Oh, God!" Ms. Saeko ran to the hole.

Yukino turned toward the hole, her expression becoming shocked.

"KEI!" Yukino immediately sprinted to the outlet, a beaten-up Kei sprawled on a desk meant to block it.

Naoya's eyes darted back and forth to Kei and Maki. Kei's strained and weakened face and Maki's partly cheerful partly concerned face.

"_As the hours go, shit just gets curiouser and curiouser._"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

* * *

><p>Holy crap, I don't understand why at all, but this took such a long time to write. In reality, the last scene and the scenes that were Ayase's and Brown's kinda establishing character inner dialogue were the hardest parts, because Ayase and Brown's characters are the hardest two character's to get a grip on for me. And the last scene, a few short pages, but the approach was sloppy to me and I didn't want it to be overly complex, because in the game the scene is like that, Maki just walks in and is like "Hey guys what's goin on?" and originally wanted to have her thoughts as it's own scene to build up to her arrival, but I couldn't really do that without, as I said making it overly complex. If I did, I'd drop a lot of foreshadowing hints and shit that would make people who haven't played the game go "what the fuck" more than they all ready would, plus in a few chapters time, hopefully the WTF moments are understandable, because the game is slow in the plot at the beginning, after we deal with the SEBEC building, it picks up. Going to be taking a small break because of needed grinding in game, I obviously run the game and play it while writing this, and I want to work on another project I've had in the back of my head for awhile, and lastly P2: Innocent Sin PSP is going to be released in roughly two weeks so I'm hyping myself of for that. Either way, I hoped you enjoyed Chapter Five of Persona: Be Your True Mind, and I'll see you next time for Chapter Six: The Police Station.<p> 


	6. Chapter 6: The Police Station

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything._

Okay, no questions to answer at the start so a brief note, this chapter is going to be probably the length of the last one, added the main quest will be on a roll by the end of this. What's in this chapter, two awakenings, securing the police station, and the first instance of my own scene created, at least I think it's the first instance, but not in that particular order. With that aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind Chapter Six.

* * *

><p><em>Chapter Six: The Police Station<em>

Masao, grabbing and violently shaking the steel bars placed in front of him, began to kick the locked cell door. "Let me out of her, you little shits!"

After the Ukobachs knocked Brown and him out, they'd woke up in the separate holding cells alongside the squad room. Masao proceeded to frantically assault the bars and walls in failed attempts to break out. He too couldn't summon his Persona.

Masao fell to the stank, stone floor of the cell, his impulsive burst of adrenaline and rage drained. "You know, this floor hasn't changed a damn bit. Lieutenant Baldy threw me in here on a weekly basis because of my tags. Old bastards don't know the meaning of artistic expression."

Lieutenant Oda was a close friend to Masao's dad. Since, Mr. Inaba had his business to run, he couldn't keep track of his son twenty-four-seven and Mrs. Inaba was worried her precious boy's actions, specifically his tagging of public or private property, would land him in prison, so Lieutenant Oda would take Masao in, let him roast in the cell for an hour or two, using the time to convince the owners of the home he vandalized that he was just a stupid young punk who didn't know any better. Oda could've lost his shield for it, but he owed a lot to the Inaba's and keeping there son from being sent to juve was the best he could do to repay what he owed. Most of the time, Masao didn't graphette private property, instead he'd go the park or the underpass and spray paint a crown, indicating he was the king. Oda would notice these, pick him up, and forced him to clean them off. With Oda watching his actions, Masao straighten-up a minor amount.

Masao sighed, tugging his hat over his eyes. "_Come to think of it? Where is Oda? Old Baldy can't be dead. Can he? Nah, that old bastard, is to stubborn to kill._"

Brown ignored Masao's rampage. He pushed his face threw the bars, clanking his rings on them, due to a lack of a tin cup. "I'm too young and handsome for prison! Why is this happening to me?"

Masao sighed, exasperated at Brown's consistent bickering ever since he'd woken up; the screeching and clacking of his cubic zirconium rings irritating his ear drums.

"Brown, shut the hell up before I shove my foot so far up your ass it comes out your mouth!"

"But, why, Masao? Why must the gorgeous be persecuted? Why must the good die young?"

"Brown, may I remind you, you started this whole thing. So, the only person to blame for being in this situation is you. Just had to suggest Persona right?"

"It worked for me when I played!" Brown pleaded, kneeling by the line of iron shafts isolating the two in their own cells. "The Lightning was not included in the results! I dreamt of a butterfly, who told me I'd be important in the future!"

Masao at the word butterfly, opened his ears. "_Brown sure doesn't strike me as a strong willed person. That Philemon dude still pisses me off. Why can't he answer my goddamn questions? I'm sick of being in the dark._"

"A butterfly? You played the game and dreamt of a butterfly?"

"Yeah, that's what I said."

"Eriko, said something similar to that happened when she played Person. Guess we got the special treatment: indoor lightning."

"Can you help to get us out of her now!"

"Brown, save it. Relax, I can't get us out of here, Nanjo abandoned us, might as well wait it out." Masao folded his arms under the back of his head. "_That's how I made it out of this cell before. Wait it out. Don't let the anxiousness take control and we'll make it out of these cages. If we aren't eaten that is. Who knows, maybe the backstabbing asshole Nanjo went for help_"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"Kei, you look like you ran through hell in back." Yukino commented, aiding him to walk.

"I practically did except on the way back, I wasn't granted the convenience of a Persona."

Yukino sat, laying Kei's weight on her shoulder and upper back. "What do you mean? What did you do?"

"First, how is Maki here, Todo?" Kei weakly asked.

"Honestly, Kei, we have no idea. So, why don't you get to explaining." Naoya said in a pissed off tone.

"Masao and I were going to attack S.E.B.E.C. last night, we decided before we left the school, we procure ourselves some firearms and proper weapons. Hidehiko Uesugi, unfortunately, decided to tail us, the irremovable parasite he is. The demons were stirred in a frenzy on the way to the station. We both used our Personas to fight our way there, but these insignificant demons managed to capture them, said they'd lock them in the cells and prepare them to be eaten."

"Masao-kun's in trouble!" Maki exclaimed. "We gotta help him, Nao-kun. This has to do with that girl in black."

Naoya raised his eyebrow then brushed it off.

"He has his Persona." Eriko stated. "He'll be able to break free of the cell easy."

"He can't apparently." Kei interjected.

"What are you talking about?" Naoya asked.

"Apparently, I'm not quite sure on the matter myself, but exhaustion or repeated use of one's Persona will halt the ability to summon it. On the way to the station, Masao and I fought summoning our Personas exactly the same amount of times. Meaning if I can't summon mine, chances are Masao can't summon his."

"Well," Naoya touched his earring. "Yukino, Eriko, and I, and recently Ayase are able to summon our Personas. We'll get Brown and Masao out of the station and head to S.E.B.E.C." Naoya pulled out the fake identification. "Aunt Setsuko used this to escape through a secret passage. We can use this to enter S.E.B.E.C. relatively undetected."

"Wait a minute, Nao-kun!" Maki interrupted. "There is something wrong with you guys, why would Nanjo care about Masao-kun?"

Naoya's sweat dropped. "Maki, yesterday was a long day."

Kei adjusted his glasses. "For the record, I could care less about Uesugi and Masao. I'm merely concerned we'll not have a sufficient amount of forces to fight Kandori with."

"With Masao, it'll be four." Naoya turned to Ayase, crouching by the corner. "Ayase, you can stay her if you want? You too 'Maki.'"

"Oh, no Naoya-kun. If Masao-kun is in trouble, I'll going with you. I'll fight any demon in my way to do it too."

"_Maki never is headstrong when it comes to anything else, other than me or Masao. Maybe this "Maki" is Maki._" Naoya thought, picking the quiver and bow off the floor.

"You'll need a weapon then. If you are Maki, you should be able to hit the mark no matter what with this." Naoya handed Maki the archery items.

Ayase looked on, her eyes empty, a headache forming. "_Don't go, please. I may not understand what's going on, but I, like, don't wanna be alone. Those idiots, like, left me to die back there, but Naoya and the others…_" She glanced at Yukino with Ms. Saeko by Kei's side with a deep expression of distress, Eriko eyeing Maki up and down, a hint of jealous in her glare, and lastly at Naoya talking with Maki. "_They saved me even though I'm usually a total bitch to them._"

"Okay, Kei, are you good to stand?" Naoya asked.

"I can walk." Kei stood, his knees wobbling slightly.

"All right, Ms. Saeko, please block the hole when we leave and thanks for covering for us. I promise, we'll be back, all of us."

Ms. Saeko looked at Naoya. She always though he was one of the quiet, passive aggressive types. A young man who simply spent his earned money in an arcade to drown himself out of reality, but with the day and half that passed, her opinion of him has been altered greatly. He's stood tall from what's she seen and truly took a place as a leader.

"You're good to go. I'll do my best to fool Hanya."

"Thank you, Ms. Saeko." Yukino hugged her homeroom teacher.

"All right, brave leader, shall we leave?" Eriko asked, whipping back her ponytail.

Naoya approached the hole. "Now, when we get out there I want-"

"Like, hold it!" Ayase interrupted. "I wanna go too!"

Ayase had exited the corner, standing up tall, a determined expression on her face.

"Are you sure, Ayase?" Naoya asked. "You don't have to come if you don't want to."

"Totally yes!" Ayase snapped. "_I'm not going be alone._"

Naoya smiled. "All right, then I want you and Yukino to bring up the rear. Eriko and I will cover the front. Maki and Kei you two are the most vulnerable, so you'll be in the middle. If the demons want to eat ya, they'll have to go through us." The six arranged themselves and exited the school.

"Excuse me, Nao-kun, but I'm not vulnerable! I've fought demons!"

"Eh? Maki what are you talking-"

"Hey, when did we rebuild the gym?" Maki said, pointing to the gym on the west wing of the school.

"It was rebuild six months ago. Back when you were hospitalized." Kei answered.

"I told you guys I wasn't hospitalized. I don't even feel sick!" Maki bright face turned sour. "Come to think of it, Nao-kun, what's a police station?"

Naoya nearly fell over. "Your kidding, right?"

"Nope." she replied innocently.

Eriko found herself slapping her forward at Maki's slight idiocy. "_How does someone not know what a police station is?_"

"It, by definition, it is the headquarters for police officers for a specific district." Kei answered again.

"Police officers?" Maki appeared confused.

"They a appointed men and women who are to uphold the law." Kei replied.

"So, they, fight the demons?"

Naoya spun around. "Seriously, Maki, what are you talking about?"

Maki twiddled her thumbs, empty-handed, the bow in the quiver. "Um, um…"

Yukino cleared her throat. "Shouldn't we be, uh, heading to save Mark and Brown."

Naoya sighed, waving his hand at Maki. "Forget it." Naoya carried on forward, leading his friends. "_She isn't Maki. Maki knows what a friggin police station is, she knows the gym was being rebuild. She shouldn't have fought demons or know about them. I don't know what kind of shit Kandori is pulling, and this has to be his doing, because to the regular person, this Maki may be able to pass as the real Maki, but I'm practically her brother she's had her life and my eyes and heart can't be fooled that easy. Though I'm pretty sure when she starts saying stuff like "I've fought demons before." and is overly zealous anyone can see the hoax._"

Naoya fixed his gaze ahead. He and Eriko were the line of defense in the front, he trusted Yukino and Ayase to bring up the rear. He, Kei, and Ayase were weaponless, Maki, Yukino, and Eriko were armed. In this specific formation, one member of the pairs is armed and the other can cover with their Persona, depending on if Kei could summon his yet.

Naoya halted, hearing a shifting in the air, signaling the others to stop with his upright hand. "Listen. I hear a whistling in the wind."

"Up there!" Maki had knocked an arrow and aimed it at the sky. A winged humanoid silhouette circling them in the sky like vultures swarming on a dead carcass. The feathers were a golden, the wings the arms of the humanoid portion. Hinduism armor and headdress on the peaked face. A tribal colored cloth and loan cloth dressed on the upper torso and lower regions. The feet were grasping the air, like a bird roosting on a branch.

"Careful, everyone!" Eriko exclaimed, recognizing the demon. "A Garuda is a mount of the god Vishnu!"

"I can hit it!" Maki released an arrow. It soared through the air and punctured the right wing, causing the Garuda to fall. She knocked another and pierced the second wing.

"GARULA!" The Garuda squawked, flapping his damaged wings. A spiral of powerful and fierce winds surge towards Maki.

Naoya gasped as Maki tried to knock a third arrow. He jumped on her. "Get down!"

Eriko, Ayase, Kei, and Yukino spread preparing to take aim at the Garuda in the air.

Maki saw the Garula skill, slowly descending to strike Naoya who was using his back as a shield. Her hair flurried upwards, the ribbon barely staying tied. A velvet mist rising around her causing Naoya to gasp again with wide eyes. She felt a surge of power and it released, gently tossing Naoya back onto the street and dispersing the Garula skill.

Maki stood the blue mist and energy bursting out of her. Everyone else gasped.

"_How can she?_" Eriko thought.

"_She's played the game of Persona previously?_" Kei fell to a knee to weak to stand any longer, the demons on the race back to St. Hermelin damaged him more than he original believed.

"_Maki has a Persona?_" Naoya thought, realizing on instinct he'd jump on the Maki, he called an imposter in his thoughts, to protect her.

"_Like, it wasn't this dramatic when I did it_." Ayase thought, pouting that everyone was paying attention to Maki summoning her Persona.

Maki threw her hand in the air, as if beckoning forth something from the clouds. "Help me! PERSONA!"

A woman, dressed in a silk blue wimple, veil, and tunic; a complete blue rendition of a nun's habit. Under the veil was a plain white mask, in contrast to Vesta's this one had slanted eyes painted on it and a hollowed out smile where the mouth portion was.

"Thou art I and I am thou!" Maki's Persona spoke in a innocent, womanly voice. "I am a being that has emerged from the sea of your soul! I shall lend you my power! I am Maso!"

The Garuda screeched, flying cockeyed due to his pierced wings. "GARULA!"

"Maso, Gentle Wave!"

The Persona clapped her hands together in a praying fashion, casting forth a chilling breeze of cold overpowering the medium wind skill. The Garuda squawked in anger and dived at Maki.

"Bufu!"

Her Persona clapped it's hands against, a blanket of frost hitting the Garuda, coated over it's body in midair in ice. The Garuda had become a complete ice sculpture in midair, losing it's flapping wings and the air current it was riding, the weight of the ice forced the beast to plummet to the concrete. The fragile ice structure was reduced to a scatter mass of iced-over body parts.

"See, Nao-kun! Told ya I fought demons before!" She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Everyone, let's get back in formation." Naoya ordered. "Kei are you sure you can make it?"

Kei was sitting, barely able to stand. Maki towered over him in his current state. "Hold on, Nanjo! I think I can fix you right up." Maki threw her hand in the air. "Help me, Maso! Dia!"

Her Persona clapped its hands a third time, casting a green aura around Kei. The little wounds and scraps and tears and the weakness of his body vanished. He stood as light as a feather.

"I feel invigorated. My mind is flawless, my exhaustion has lifted and the damage done by the demons earlier has been neutralized."

"It's a healing skill." Maki explained. "I guess. Never used it before."

"It seems we have a healer, Todo. Our Personas together can be the supportive team." Kei suggested.

"We can discuss the actions for each person when Masao and Brown are safe." Naoya said in a serious voice. "Let's hurry. We wasted enough time!"

Eriko curled her lips, staring at Naoya's contorted face. "_Why is he so aggressive? There's a difference between leading and being a tyrant or control freak. He's isn't like his normal self and he isn't like back in the school when he was giving us instructions as a team to fight the oni. With the Garuda, he didn't instruct us. He let Maki do what she pleased, ending with him trying to take the blow instead of tell us the strategy to defeat it. His actions are fluctuating from good to bad. He's not the same as the hours add up. What's going on, Naoya?_"

Naoya stomped onward, an undirected anger in each step. "_What's going on with me?_" He broke out in a nervous sweat, continuing forward. He overlapped his hand on the left side of his face. "_Am I myself. I can't tell anymore. As for Maki, she has a Persona. I put myself in the line of the enemy's attack for her. I wasn't thinking. I'm acting like Mark. I've got to concentrate, calm down, and lead. I shouldn't be a jackass. I don't understand were this belligerence came from. Next time I see Philemon he's answering these questions. Now, we have to focus on the matter at hand._"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

The police station was a standard-sized building with a ten car parking lot on the side. In bold, bronze letters on the arch over the double doors read "Mikage Police Department." The crime rate of Mikage was low enough to not warrant a huge police force, but for the occasional riot situation, the MKD did have a S.W.A.T. team.

"Eriko, I though you said this place was infested." Naoya said, carefully walking towards the doors.

Kei held his position. "Masao and I managed to create an open path by killing the zombies flocking outside."

Naoya grabbed the handle on the left door. Eriko grabbed the handle on the right.

"And inside, Kei?" Eriko asked.

"We didn't make it that far. I know little imps called Ukobachs are living inside."

"Ukobachs," Eriko drew her rapier. "They're relatively harmless. They won't be trouble."

"Eriko and I lead, you guys stay back until we're in. If the entrance is safe, we head in to locate the holding cells." Naoya informed.

Naoya and Eriko swung the doors inward, a roaring stench of decay flooded out of the police station.

Yukino pinched her nose. "_Great, more nostril-burning ranch smell._"

They examined the entrance way, a counter with a shield emblazoned with MKD was erected. A few plastic chairs were jumbled all along the floor. Police officers were laying dead, motionless and rotting. There arms were by their sides, killed before they could draw their weapons.

"Be careful, they could be faking." Naoya warned. "Stay at of their arms reach."

"Wow! This place is creepy." Maki stated, gawking at the tasteless unimpressive interior. "Not what I expected."

Ayase hugged herself. "Like, can we speed this up. I hate deserted places." The vacancy made her feel on her own.

"The cells should be in the back." Yukino stated, clenching her nose shut.

"Oh," Maki's glowed. "What are the cells like?"

"Maki, we here to save Masao. This isn't a field trip." Naoya said.

Maki crossed her arms. "Hmph!" She then armed herself with her bow, knocking an arrow. "_Naoya is right. I don't have time for sight-seeing. save Masao-kun first and then my main priority is that girl in black._"

The six students progressed through several halls leading to the farther back portion of the MKD, miscellaneous zombies strewn about. The halls, like the Hospital, were altered by the effects of the Deva System, turning the straight-forward corridors into a maze. After navigating their way through the twists and turns, they came to a lone steel door. They opened a door, proceeding into a dank room, the two holding cells before them and a open door to the squad room to the right.

Masao scrambled to his feet at the opening of the door. "Finally! Nanjo, you dickweed, what took ya so long, I thought you abandoned us!"

Maki met his face at the bars. "Hey, there you are! You okay, Masao-kun?"

"Maki? What are-"

"Oh, you guys missed me that much to come an rescue me!" Brown exclaimed.

Naoya sighed, sinking his shoulders. "_We could care less about him?_"

"Oh," Maki said. "Hey, Hidehiko, you're here too?"

Brown's jaw hit the floor, his dreams crushed. "_Sonomura…is…alive! My reward, my heart! Oh, why must the young suffer!_" Brown begin to whimper, drawing a circle in the ground with his finger.

"Whatever," Masao spat. "Get us out of her."

"We didn't think to obtain a key." Eriko stated.

"Can we vote on saving Brown, Naoya?" Yukino asked.

"That will be no problem." Kei said. "Todo, your Persona has a physical skill, yes?"

Naoya nodded. "Mine does as well. We'll breach the cages simultaneously."

Naoya hovered his hand in front of his face, standing towards Masao's prison. Kei swiping his hand to the right, positioning himself adjacent to Brown's.

"Seimen Kongo! Spin Kick!"

"Aizen Myouou! Fist of Fury!"

Seimen Kongo untwisted it's body, slamming it's tremendous kick against the bars, tearing them out of the ceiling and floor. Aizen Myouou straightened it's stiletto fingers and released a flurry of stabbing thrusts upon the bars, reducing them to hollowed-out chunks.

Brown jumped for joy, but then sank in sorrow. "_It doesn't matter if I'm free. I can't get any money if Sonomura isn't missing._"

"Hey, Nanjo, why is Hidehiko so depressed?" Maki asked, curious.

"His imaginary quest to rescue the damsel in distress has been crushed into particle-size bits."

Masao after stretching his back, hugged Maki tightly. "I'm glad your safe, Maki."

"Uh, I'm glad your safe too, Masao-kun." Masao hugged her tighter. "Uh, Masao-kun, I can't breathe." He let the lean girl go, sticking his hands in his pockets.

"Masao, where are the Ukobachs?" Kei asked.

"Last time I checked," He pointed his thumb over his shoulder at the squad room. "Back there."

"Good, Todo, Yukino, Kirishima let us wipe them out." Kei instructed.

"Hey, wait, those bastards took my axe, I'm gonna kick their asses."

Naoya grabbed Masao. "Hold up. You still can't use your Persona. Maki heal him like you did to Kei."

"Kay," Maki rose her hand in the air. "Dia!" Maso appeared revitalizing Masao's being.

"Maki has a Persona!" Masao exclaimed, the green aura dissipating.

"Of course I do, Masao-kun."

"But, but, but," Masao started to stammer in his words.

"Trust me, Mark, you're better off not asking questions at this point." Naoya said.

Masao brushed his nose. "Your probably right, Nao. Either way part one of saving Mikage is done."

"_How does saving Maki contribute to saving Mikage?_" Yukino thought.

Kei cleared his throat. "Todo, if you please, can we proceed to take the police station. It would be in our best interest to arm ourselves before sun down. The demons gather in vast amounts in the moon, as I said."

Naoya pushed passed Kei, taking the lead again. Ayase came to Brown's side. "Come on, like, get up!" She pulled him up by his school blazer. "Or else you're be left for dead, not like anyone would miss you anyways."

Brown kept whining. "My Toadstool appears to be in another castle and my one billion dollars."

"Like, what are you talking about?"

"All you stupid humans are gonna burn and be our stew!" A Ukobach shouted. The moment the teens tried to enter the squad room, the clan of pint-sized gremlins shoved into the room in a row, like an army, five a column, five a row, twenty five in total.

At the rush of the Ukobachs, Naoya, Eriko, Yukino, Kei, and Maki backed up rapidly to the wall were Ayase and Brown were.

"Shit, that's a lot of spoons." Yukino commented as the spoons ignited with fire

Brown fell on his rear, legs to his chest, assuming his cowering position as he always did in scary situations. "_Why must life be so cruel? I lose my hooks in the cash cow and now I'm gonna die!_" He sniveled. "I don't wanna die!"

"AGI!" All twenty five demons launcher their Agi skills, sending a wall of fireballs at the teenagers backed into the wall.

They prepared to summon their Personas, but the mist appeared in seconds, underneath Brown's feet.

"Huh? What the?" He flitted back and forth in the mist, somewhat frightened.

"_Persona,_" A mature, smooth, woman's voice spoke in Brown's mind.

"Persona," He repeated casually, blowing away the fireballs with a wave of blue energy, his Persona arising.

A woman, wearing red heels, a yellow cocktail dress, with matching arm-length gloves appeared. Two plume feathered, human-sized hawk wings spread out of her back, and her neck-length velvet hair, curling to the sides, covered her faintly pointed ears, which sported crystal earrings and around her neck was a spiked choker.

"Thou art I and I am thou."

"Holy shit!" Brown exclaimed. "Did something just pop out of me to say hello?"

Everyone's sweat dropped. "_Of all of the people, Brown has a Persona._" Masao thought.

"I am a being that emerged from the sea of your soul! I shall lend you my power! I am Nemain!"

"What does that mean?" Brown questioned. "_Zan,_" He heard in his head. "Zan," he repeated, causing a sparking green energy to appear in Nemain's hand, increasing to the size of a basketball.

The Ukobachs ignited their spoons again, priming the launch of the twenty five Agi spells, but Nemain thrust her hand forward, casting off the ball of energy into the middle of the army. The Zan spell made contact with one Ukobach. The ball exploded, blowing apart the touched gremlin, and reducing several around him to chunks of green flesh.

"Did I just do that?" Brown asked himself. "_Mazan,_" He heard in his head for a third time. Brown caught on quickly. "MAZAN!"

Nemain gathered dozens of Zan spheres in both hands and fired them off into the Ukobachs, splattering their remaining giblets and sticky blood on walls and floor of the holding cell area.

"Yeah, that's right! I'm the coolest!" Brown boasted. "You all wish you could do something that amazing!"

Yukino kicked him hard in the lower back, pushing him back into his broken-into cell. "We can you moron! We should've left you in there!"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

They explained the whole situation to Brown in a matter of fifteen minutes, not wanting to lose much time in the process.

"So, that was my Persona. Pretty awesome isn't it." Brown gloated, flipping his bang over his sunglasses. "Though I don't understand why's it a woman."

"It's official then Hidehiko, in one way or another, you're a pussy." Masao said, chuckling to himself.

Eriko and Ayase giggled at Masao's joke. Yukino and Naoya busted out laughing, knowing Masao's joke to be the truth.

Brown fell back to the ground, drawing circles with his finger again, in dismay.

"Ahem! If we are done with flattening Uesugi self-esteem even lower than it all ready was." Kei implying he wanted to carry-on, hammering his point home again.

Masao stopped his own chuckling. "Oh, the weapons, right? Follow me, I know were they keep the confiscated goods and the S.W.A.T.S. equipment."

"How do you know that, Mark?" Yukino asked.

"My family's friends with the Lieutenant. He's always locked me up or lecture me in the office. With spending most of my time here, I know were everything is. If we can unlock the doors is another story."

"We can break them in as effortlessly as we did the cells." Kei reminded.

They entered the squad room, the detective's desk were rolled over, papers scattered across the room, the garbage spilled out of their containers, and the Ukobachs had apparently made a makeshift cauldron of boiling water out of a one of the garbage can. They had lit a fire under the can, filled with water, with papers, which without nothing left to feed it, died.

Masao lead Kei to a iron door labeled "Confiscated."

"I'm going to get the key from Lieutenant's Oda's office." Masao informed. He pointed down an alcove, out of the room. "Down there, Nanjo, is the S.W.A.T. lockers and equipment. Oda doesn't have the key."

"Don't worry; I'll persuade it to open." Kei entered the alcove.

"Hey, Kei, wait up! I'll go with you!" Yukino ran up beside him.

Masao left the room into Oda's assigned office. Ayase and Brown decided to examine the pot the creatures were cooking in.

"Like, that's disgusting!" Ayase shrieked with disgust.

Brown gulped, trying not to lose his lunch and keep his cool demeanor.

"What are you guys looking at?" Maki ask, sticking her head by the lip of the waist basket, titling her head afterwards.

The Ukobachs had filled their cooking pot with bones and chunks of the human remains. Drifting at the bottom were the remnants of human ribs, spinal columns, internal organs, and Maki could see the final item. A skinned, hairless skull, missing it's lower jaw.

Naoya leaned on a wall, his shaking hand clasping the right side of his face. His nervous spasms were still coming on. Naoya felt his grip on himself slipping away.

"_And your suppose to be the leader. That's great. I'm to lead my friends into unknown territory and I'm a wreck. Why do I have this Persona, if I'm scared shitless to use it? Come to think of it, why do we have to do this? Why were we chosen to use these Personas? Philemon granted them to us, but why? What purpose? Maybe, if I understand it, I'm won't be afraid to-_"

A warm, gentle hand rested on Naoya's opposite shoulder, while another lightly caressed his back. Eriko had stepped behind him, her sword sheathed, and her kind hands, massaging his tense muscles.

Naoya blushed. "Hey, Eriko, y-y-you don't h-h-have to do that?"

"Don't be silly, Naoya. You look stressed beyond belief. How can I possible sit by and not help? You've looked like this since Maki showed up."

Naoya saw Maki in the corner of his eye, perusing in the desks with Brown and Ayase.

"I've just have a feeling. I mean…" He paused, trying to come up with the words to describe his feeling. "Her appearance is Maki's, but she doesn't act like her. I've known her for years. She wouldn't joke about being in the hospital. She wouldn't be oblivious to the basic concept of a police station. Plus she knows about demons, she has a Persona. Stuff Maki SHOULDN'T even know about in the past day and a half. Yet, with all that against her, I put myself in front of her to protect her back with the Garuda and I don't understand why."

Eriko pursed her lips, running both hand up and down Naoya's back. She put her mouth next to his ear. She whispered as low as possible, almost low enough to were Naoya couldn't hear her. "The same reason, I would put myself in front of you to protect you. You like her, Nao."

The crimson on Naoya's face intensified. He knew Eriko had a crush on him, but this was the first time she legitimately admitted it to him.

Eriko turned away, back-to-back with Naoya, sharing his embarrassment on her own face. "_I can't believe I said it._"

Masao pulled the middle drawer out of the upturned Lieutenant's desk. A key, with "confiscated goods" written on it was taped under the drawer.

"_Baldly is too old school._"Masao pocketed the key, heading to the door, noticing his familiar yellow backpack. His spray paints, notepads, and drawing utensils were taken out. He found them, rummaged around behind the filing cabinet, including his axe.

"There you are!" Masao felt reassured with his weapon back. He stuck it back in his backpack after picking up his art supplies.

"_No sign of Baldy's corpse is good. He could've escaped before shit got bad, but he's probably hauled up with Ma and Pop down in our Laundromat, chilling, drinking the bad situation away. Or…he could be out looking for me._" The importance hit Masao. "_He wouldn't go right to his house or our house. He'd make sure, I'd be home so Ma doesn't have a heart attack._"

Masao removed his hat, scratching his partially shaven head. He glimpsed at the hat. The cartoonish white skull with the king crown, baring an eye-like symbol on the center of the brim on top of the 2D cranium. His mother bought the hat as a gift for him to wear. He'd marked up the fabric with his personalized tag to make his own style. The hat, in reality, was the only thing his mother bought for him to wear that he actual wore. He still heard his hateful words to her playing back in his head. "_Come on, Ma! Who the hell buys a yellow tuque? This thing is freakin ugly!_"

"_Masao Inaba! You will not talk to me that way and you'll wear that hat! You've worn that raggedy baseball cap for God knows how long! You need a new one!_"

"_Screw that! Ma, I'm not wearing this. It's seriously cramps my damn style!_"

"_Then make it your style! I don't care! You are wearing it, end of discussion_!"

Masao sighed, shuffling the hat firmly back on his head. "_You know, Ma, you can be a real bitch sometimes, but I'm prayin' your okay. You too, Pop._"

"Yo, Mark!" Naoya called. "You get the key?"

Masao tossed the key to Naoya, who barely caught it. "Knock yourself out browsing through all that shit, I have my weapon right here." Masao chopped the air with his axe.

Kei and Yukino gathered boxes of ammunition, consisting of Handgun and machinegun magazines, boxes of Shotgun shells, and stacks of rifle rounds. The Ukobachs had melted the iron door inward, apparently biting into most of firearms, but Kei had found nine untouched weapons in a duffel bag.

"You know, why'd those little snots trying eating the guns, but not the ammo?" Yukino asked, hefting the bag up.

Kei too strained himself carrying the bag of weapons. "My assumption is the gunpowder and shell casing didn't sit with there stomach."

"_Did Kei just attempt to make a joke? Reality must really have been altered._" Yukino thought.

"So, what kinda guns we got, Kei?" She asked while they were returning to the squad room.

"I'm not a gun enthusiast, but what I do know is we have a Springfield M1903 and Remington M700 rifles. One of each."

"Specific model numbers too, huh? And you're not much of a gun enthusiast."

"Yamaoka and I used to go hunting. We had the same types of rifles. I'd use the Springfield M1903 and he'd used the Remington M700."

"Sorry. Didn't mean to bring up Yamaoka."

Kei pushed up his glasses. "No…no…it's fine. You have nothing to apologize for, Yukino."

"_Whatever you say. I still feel horrible._"

"Okay, Nanjo, what's the score?" Masao asked at his and Yukino's return to the room. Naoya, Ayase, and Brown gathered in the other room, going through the confiscated items. Maki and Eriko were waiting patiently.

"See for yourself."

Masao unzipped the duffel bag, jawing dropping. He pulled out a shotgun. "Awesome! Didn't think they have a Remington M1100 in the S.W.A.T. room." Masao tucked it in his backpack besides his axe to look through the contents of the bag more.

"The Springfield rifle is mine, Masao." Kei said, taking the weapon for himself and securing it on his back with the shoulder strap.

"There's a Remington rifle in her too." Masao stated, pulling it out.

"Oh," Eriko perked up. "I'll use that. My father use to take me hunting when we checked in at ports." Eriko readied and aimed the weapon like a pro, starring down the sights.

"Uh, Masao-kun. Is there something small I can use." Maki asked, holding her bow.

"Yeah, here." He handed Maki a tiny handgun, the size of her hand. "It's a Browning High Power. You see that switch on the side. If you want to fire it, you'll have to switch it off. It's the safety."

"Okay, thank you." Maki put the gun in the back of her uniform's belt.

"Yukino, you'll like this one." Masao tossed her a sawn-off shotgun. She caught it, a wry smile on her face at the not-so-heavy weight of such a powerful weapon. "An Ithaca Model A, can kick your ass if you not careful." He warned.

"I think I can handle it, Mark." Yukino retorted, loading two shells into the barrels.

Ayase's lashed a confiscated weaved whip on the ground, startling and scaring Brown into a corner. "I, like, totally love this!"

Brown crouched by the corner his head hung low. "_She might as well take the rest of the fem dom gear she found that thing in with her. God only knows, where that was confiscated from._"

"Ayase, stop fooling around. Brown get your ass out of the corner and find a weapon." Naoya order, grasping the scabbard of katana and a broadsword, both of which mostly taken from a pawn shop. They both had note tags attached to the handles saying "Donate to Historical Society."

"_Katana is mine. Hopefully, Kei won't mind a two-handed sword. Ayase with a whip is more fitting then I imagined._ _Now, let's see what Hidehiko grabs._"

Brown picked up fork-like ended spear. The staff of it was a lacquered redwood. "I'll use this! Longest weapon is the strongest weapon!"

Naoya rolled his eye, stepping out of the room, Ayase and Brown close behind. "_More like longer the weapon, more it compensates for. In Brown's case, that's a lot._"

"Okay, Ayase and Brown are armed." Naoya announced. "Kei are you fine with this sword."

Kei shifted the weight of the rifle to place the broadsword under the strap securing it to his back. "I can live with it, Todo. I assume the katana is yours."

"Yep." Naoya put it in his waistband, the entire weapon the length of his leg.

"Good, with weapons set, I got guns and ammo for the rest of you guys." Masao eagerly said, dancing between the three of them, placing a machinegun in Naoya's hands. "A Heckler and Koch MP5. Sorry, Nao, no grenade rounds available for the grenade launcher under the barrel." He moved to Brown after giving Naoya four clips of ammunition. "Brown, you get the TMP." Brown opened his mouth to complain he received the smallest weapon when Masao handed Ayase a black handgun, the real smallest weapon. "A Heckler and Koch VP70, decent handgun, has a nice clip size."

"Why do I have this, Masao?" Brown exclaimed, showing him the TMP. "I'm the best, I should have the best gun!"

"No can do, Brown. You probably can't even handle that. I at least know that Eriko, Naoya, Yukino, and rich boy over there can not end of shooting us even with no experience with firearms. We have a M4 Carbine in there that we're bringing with us, but no one's using purely for the reason it's the most powerful gun here. So, just point the damn thing forward and try not to shoot us in the back."

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Reiji Kido listened intently to the tapping of his shoes on the paved road to S.E.B.E.C.'s doors. His glaring eyes fixated on the rows of windows on the five floored, sky-high building made of gray stone. The chain around his choker, jangled with his motions. His gloved fists clenched tightly and his teeth gritted, exposing his sharp canines. Broad shouldered, tall men, dressed in black suits, ties, and sunglasses, with earwigs in their ears approached him at the check-in for cars. They immediately reached into their jackets.

Reiji bolted, picking up his pace, finding himself in front of the two. "OUT OF THE WAY!" He belted, breaking one of their nose with a powerful right hook.

The second S.P., backing up incredible fast towards the building, drawing his firearm: a Desert Eagle .50 Caliber Action Express. He trained it on Reiji, who was wildly weaving back and forth while sprinting forward like a animal.

"Halt!" He commanded.

"Fuck you!" Reiji charged faster.

The S.P. fired his weapon.

Reiji dodged to the right, the high-powered round narrowly missing his arm. The young wild boy, ducking as he charged, stopped by the S.P.'s feet in a matter of seconds. He leaped up, connecting a burly uppercut under the man's chin, dazing him and knocking him unconscious.

Reiji spat on the ground, hooking his thumbs into his pants pockets. He waltzed passed the man's knocked-out form to the revolving doors. He pushed his way through.

"_Your security sucks, Kandori. Two guards at the door aren't gonna stop me. You should've prepared better because I'm about to rip out your heart and crush it in my hands!_"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

* * *

><p>Done! Sorry it took awhile, been busy as of left as well as taking tiny break. I enjoyed writing this chapter because it mostly strayed away from the exact content, which in my opinion, makes writing monetization a little bit easier. The scene with the weapons gathering was my own. I know that rushed a few things a little bit, Brown's awakening for example, but I overall enjoyed it. Maki being there is confusing I know and so is this mysterious "girl in black" and why Reiji is a badass. Well, possibly not the last one, but this chapter covered a small amount of material and be warned, technically the next chapter is filler, but it has something important in it so, take it as you wish. Either way, I hope you enjoyed Chapter Six of Persona: Be Your True Mind, and I'll see you next time for Chapter Seven: S.E.B.E.C. Building Part 1: Byakko.<p> 


	7. Chapter 7: SEBEC Building Part 1: Byakko

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything._

Going to start right away by saying this chapter is padding, can't really say filler because some important stuff does happen, like introduce a certain quartet of demons I personally added into the mix that Kandori uses mostly to guard shit that normally in the game isn't guarded at all or is not greatly guarded. Now, a little challenge for you if you read this is try to guess all nine party members Arcanas without looking them up, because they're revealed in this chapter. With that aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind Chapter Seven.

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><p><em>Chapter Seven: S.E.B.E.C. Building Part 1: Byakko<em>

Naoya stood, the card reader a couple of feet in front of him, inside the abandoned factory. The lump of corroded sheet metal and loose roofing tile was five blocks away from the police station. The group of eight had evaded the oncoming demons to make it to the factory without expending time and energy. They would need their Personas to fight.

The inners of the factory were blank. There were packaging crates on a conveyer belt, no longer receiving electricity, it was dead-still. A generator was erected alongside the conveyer belt to power it. Cobwebs drifted, weaved in the corners of the ceilings, dust and dirt had covered every possible inch.

"_From one dank hole into another._" Naoya though, waving his hand forward to signal the others to his location in the factory.

They had split up to navigate passed the crates and the lengthy conveyer belts creating an "S" shaped maze to discover the card reader. Naoya had stumbled under the hackneyed crafted machinery to an approachable section. The reader was mounted on the back wall. The LEDs trailing the rim of the digital screen were flashing red. The flat surface screen displayed "INSERT KEYCARD FOR EMERGENCY ACCESS."

"I found the reader! Circle the generator to the back!" Naoya called, flailing his arm back and forth in the air to attract their attention if he was in their line of sight.

Maki and Masao joined him from the right, Kei and Yukino from the left, and Ayase and Brown from behind.

"Slide the card, Todo." Kei demanded, disquiet in staying put.

Naoya's rose the card to the reading slot, delaying the entrance. He couldn't bring himself to put it in. His stomach was churning, his head splitting, the familiar, nervous, cold sweat coating his body with it's discomforting sensation. "_Why can't I put the card in? My hands are shaking? Come on, Naoya, you aren't afraid of what's in SEBEC, right? Everyone's watching. You're the leader, put the card in. We can do this. We can fix Mikage, put the damn card in the slot!_"

"Nao-kun, are you all right?" Maki asked, regarding his well-being.

Eriko piped in. "Yes, _brave leader_, you surely aren't having trouble are you?" She accentuated "brave leader" aspiring to boost his newfound confidence.

Yukino jostled the cumbrous duffel bag of ammunition securely strapped across her chest. "_Naoya, you are eminently different than the old Naoya. The old Naoya would've backed down back at the hospital. Would've never taken that pipe and tried to fight the zombies. If you can do that, I guarantee you can do this._" Yukino realized her pep-talk didn't work if she didn't actually say it, but how would Naoya learn if she did it for him.

"Like, can we go! I'm bored!" Ayase complained, pouting.

Brown jittering, tapped his foot. He was shaky and impatient. "Man, N.T., do me a favor and PUT THE CARD IN! I want to get a morsel of pricy information or equipment from the building! Anything to land me cash!" Brown played off his fright by hiding behind his masquerade of lies.

Masao rolled his eyes at Brown, then fixed his gaze on Naoya. A customary feeling was resonating in Masao at looking at Naoya. "_He's scared, huh? Used to that. I may be a superb artist, but my work, not gonna lie to myself, can land me in juve. Sure as hell don't wanna go there._" Masao reached out touching the card, Naoya's muscles jerking. "Yo, Nao, it's cool. We all are scared. I gotcha." Masao slid the card out of Naoya's reluctant fingers to the slot.

"T-t-thanks…" Naoya's head fell. "_You can't even put a stupid card in, huh?_" Naoya thought to himself. "_Maybe I am just my plain old self._"

The LEDs became a solid green color, the digital screen writing: "I.D. CARD INSERTED! SETSUKO SONOMURA, EMERGENCY ACCESS GRANTED!"

A click, followed by an electronic hum was heard. The dust under Kei's feet was whipping up. The blackness under his feet was pulling him forward, catching him off guard. He fumbled forward, the slate of ground bottomward his feet, drooping farther down and slamming into a channel.

Kei made a small leap at the drooping, falling on Yukino's back, almost thumping her over because of the swaying weight of the duffel bag. "Are you trying to kill me Masao?" Kei exploded with rage, his fierce eyes glaring daggers at the hat-wearing Persona User.

Masao grinned. "Pay back for leaving me back at the police station!" He pointed at Kei accusingly.

Kei hunched forward, bending his back, his arms bent in midair (A/N). A partial expression of hurt and distress in his eyes and on his face. "_It escaped my mind. My compromising actions. I'd made a pact with Masao and dishonored it._" This came as a hard blow to Kei, because he honestly figured himself a man of his word. His opinions and words were ironclad. "_This is the second time you've made me break my words and brought me to a realization, Masao Inaba._"

"Like, can we go!"

Naoya moved to the entrance way in the floor. A diagonally slanted ramp of metal was the walkway to a twenty foot wide cavern, illuminated with sconces. Each sconce had spent candle wax, the solid substance congealed to a liquid slop, tarnishing the bronze crafted holders. The wicks were burnt out. The candles hadn't been lit in years. In contrast to the ominous medieval route, at the end were polished steel elevator doors, the call button besides it.

"Let's head to the elevator."

The doors parted ways for them. The interior was also steel with a maroon carpeting. The eight of them swamped in, each person taking any remaining free space. The floor button were replaced with a panel with an up arrow and down arrow. Naoya jammed his finger on the up arrow without hesitation, trying to put behind his previously actions.

"_I'm this far in, I can't let my timid nature and fear of the unknown control me._"

The elevator being an emergency escape and entrance route wasn't rigged to be called to each floor, it was linked to a semi-monorail track that carried it under a tunnel that traveled the blocks up the road to S.E.B.E.C. The students were juggled by the sudden speeding to the side and then proceeded with a sky rocketing up, ending with a casually ironic halt. The doors opened.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Reiji waltzed on the dead demons sprawled on the white-tiled floor. Blood, chips, and slash marks lined the white marble support beams and walls of the main entrance. The demons blood stained the white, Reiji was careful not to step in the puddles.

"_Where are the damn stairs?_" His ears perked. He heard footsteps. He cupped his ear. "_Around the corner. Seven…no…eight. Kandori, you're S.P.s. can't do shit even if it's eight on one. I've faced worse odds._"

Reiji sidled across the stone to the corner, counting the steps. He clenched his fist. "_Punch out the initial two coming around. Take out the other six before they take aim._"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

The atmosphere of S.E.B.E.C. was not fresh and lively. It was uncomfortable, stale, invidious. The air was thick, similar to the hospital. The group felt an evil presence combined with a pushing pressure, like invisible bags of bricks chained to their legs, keeping them down. White marble supporting columns with matching walls and tiled floors were the interior appearance of S.E.B.E.C. building. Generic potted plants were meticulously placed with trash cans respectively on opposite sides of the beams. No doors, no sounds, no shadows, pure white constructs and intense, burning light. The heat emanating from the lights were adding to the uneasiness. Hell as a office building, white and hot, missing the screams of the damned.

"_White? Kinda eerie consider the shit going on here_." Masao thought, pumping his shotgun.

Brown balanced the opposing heaviness of his spear. "_Fancy. I'm sure I can find something to reimburse my spent efforts. Oh, shit, wait I just realized. It doesn't matter if I have money and Mikage is screwed up like this. Money's no good if I can't leave the city._" Brown gently wept.

"_Like, this place is totally spacious. Where are, like, the workers at? More importantly, where's the food court? I'm, like, starving!_" Ayase's stomach growled, holding her coiled whip with her arms behind her head.

Yukino checked her Ithaca's slots. "_Locked and loaded. This is gonna do me nicer than those razorblades. Problem is the capacity. Why'd Masao have to take the pump action?_"

Eriko favoring her rapier assumed her standard stance. "_A Remington M700 is accurate and easy to use, but I'm not too keen on bolt action. I'll wait for when WE'RE under a hail of bullets._"

Maki knocked an arrow, preparing to pull the string back and fire at the mere sight of an enemy. "_I can tell she was here. Takahisa Kandori, his name is. What does he have to do with that brat?_"

Kei practiced swinging his two-handed sword, making swift slices. "_Key to utilizing a broadsword to the fullest potential is the momentum added with the swings, slamming not only your force, but the force of the weapon as well._"

Naoya check his clip. "_30 bullets. Mark, said the clip would go dry in seconds. Of course, I'd have to not curl up in a ball and shoot._"

The eight tenderly moved forward. They deduced the elevator had arrived on the ground floor, on presumably the right side. A set of mechanical doors were next to the emergency route elevator; the stairs. The main lobby was around the corner, they wanted to use the work elevator to speed up the process of exploration. Kei knew Kandori's office was on the fifth floor, the pinnacle of the S.E.B.E.C. building.

Masao extended the barrel of his shotgun ahead. Naoya stood with his MP5 cocked and aim. He stuck close to the left wall, planning to back up Masao when he sprung around the corner. They would reach the turn in, three steps, two steps, one step. In a sudden burst of speed, Mark sprinted, spinning inward to the lobby.

_SMACK!_

A gloved fist connected a strong jab to Masao forehead. The hat-wearing teen fell backwards, dropping his shotgun. The combatant rushed to the right hall, a sound of a jangling chain echoing in the acoustic space, his left fist balled, ready to hook the next contestant in the nose, but was greeted with Naoya's submachine gun.

Naoya firmly held his weapon, steadily aiming it at Reiji's face, apprehensive to fire.

Kei grabbed Naoya's arm. "Todo, it's Kido!" Kei exclaimed. "Lower the weapon!"

Brown snapped his fingers. "We saw him leave the school the night we went to the police station."

"That was the night, he stormed out of the cafeteria." Eriko added.

Naoya exhaled a deep breath, the MP5 hanging by his thigh. Reiji hooked his fingers in his pockets. "What the hell are you assholes doing here?" He asked, scrutinizing each of them, taking mental notes of their weaponry. "_MP5, Springfield, Remington, Ithaca, Browning, TMP, VP70. A grip is sticking out of the bag the mannish chick has. It's a M4. I could use a assault rifle._"

Masao grunted, regaining his footing. "I was bout' to ask you the same goddamn question? What the hell, dude?"

"Thought you were Kandori's S.P.s."

"Least you can do is apologize for decking me in the face!"

Reiji scowled. "You're lucking you ain't dead-on-the-floor. I calculated the height of a S.P. to where my jab would go. Since your shorter my punch didn't put your nose in your brains."

"_The fuck is wrong with this guy?_" Masao thought, scowling back.

"Seriously, Reiji, what are you doing here?" Naoya asked, taking charge.

"I don't have to explain anything to you. Just, piss off and let me take care of my business." Reiji directed his upright thump at himself. "_Though I could use the M4._"

"We have are own matters. Why don't we work together? We might have the same intentions." Naoya suggested.

Reiji snarled, his lip twitching. He peered into Naoya's wholesome eyes with his foul copper irises. "Listen, pretty boy, my intentions are to kill a sadistic bastard named Takahisa Kandori. I can hardly believe you punks share my intentions."

"We're here to stop him." Naoya shot back, trying to keep his audacity.

Reiji looked Naoya up and down. "I eat fuckin' high-and-mighty chumps like you for breakfast. You're a timid ass. I starred a devil in the face in this very building and told him to go fuck himself. Do you think you stand a chance against the shit Kandori has guarding this building. You're better off going home and crying to your mother, because here YOU," Reiji prodded Naoya roughly with his index finger. "ARE useless."

Naoya gritted his teeth, chucking the MP5 to the side. He pulled Reiji closer by grabbing his collar. Naoya locked his fierce eyes with Reiji's amused eyes upward. Naoya was a foot shorter than Reiji. His mouth opened; no words came. "_Who does this asshole think he is? We've fought demons to make it here. Where does he get off on telling me he's looked a demon in the eye and told him to go fuck himself._"

"You gonna say something?" Reiji asked, his face never faltering.

Masao was about to step in. "_Watching, Nao's back is my day-by-day job._"

"Fuck you." Naoya said to Reiji's face, his voice edged and firm.

Masao raised an eyebrow. "_Nao…he would never look somebody in the eye and say that to their face._"

Reiji nudged Naoya back, chuckling hysterical. "I will admit, maybe you have some balls, kid!"

"I have more than balls." Naoya's right hand hovered over his face.

Reiji looked unfazed, throwing an uppercut into the air. "What else ya got?"

Eriko, Ayase, Brown, and Kei had slipped passed Reiji, Naoya, and Masao into the lobby when they were having their argument.

"Like, who did this?" Ayase's jaw hit the floor. The pure white was a tainted crimson, demon blood and slime in puddles and splatters. Some demon corpses were brutally hacked and slash and others appeared unharmed yet dead.

Brown harshly grabbed the sides of his head. "_JESUS!_"

"Try not to piss your pants, Brown." Yukino teased in a reprimanding tone.

"See you noticed my handiwork." Reiji bragged, returning his hands to his pockets, ignorant to Naoya still standing there.

Naoya lowered his hand, disappointed and enraged.

"Yo, Nao, it's okay, man. Reiji's just a prick." Masao said, putting away his shotgun, retrieving his axe.

Masao and Naoya joined their friends. "Dude? How the fu-"

Reiji stepped close to the them, triggering a blinding flash of velvet blue to envelop the nine of them. Naoya shot his head back. A set of blue doors, not previously there, were thrust open, expelling the blinding blue light. Before Naoya and his companions entered their now-often state of comatose between consciousness and unconsciousness, the courageous leader saw on the blue doors in ivory letters forming two words stacked, one half of each on each door, read: VELVET ROOM.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Blue material mesmerized the nine of them. An lovely operatic vocalist voice filled their ears, her tone fitting the room perfectly. A beautiful piano piece accompanied her enchanting song. As the music developed more, the room became clearer and clearer. The piano music came from a blue painted baby grand piano. Sitting on the stool was a man in a navy blue tuxedo, his fingers playing away at the eighty-eight keys. The most perplexing thing was he was blindfolded. On a miniature stage next to the piano, standing tall and proud, elegantly dressed in azure and powder blue opera gown, was a woman, her eyes made-up with blue shading. Her hair was finely fixed, strands of white streaked back through the light lavender hair. Bizarrely enough for the opera singer, she covered her ears as she song. The last denizen of the labeled "Velvet Room" was a hunch-backed man, in a debonair black tux. His gloved hands clasped on each other. His elbows rested leisurely on the velvet blue, high back chair. His head was bald except for a curtain of straggling white hair. His black eyebrows were wicked, furrowed, and untamed. His eyes were the size of saucers, starring into the soul of whoever they glimpsed upon. With the theme of the members of the room, the man had a odd feature amongst his being. A hooked nose protruded off his face at the length of twelve inches (A/N).

The nine teenagers realized they were no longer in S.E.B.E.C. They were now standing in completely new territory. "Where are we now?" Naoya asked hesitantly.

The pianist and the opera singer continued their performance. The longed nose man grinned.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room. My name is Igor. I'm delighted to make your acquaintance."

Reiji grew angry. "Where the hell are we you long-nosed bastard? And where every the hell it is, send me the fuck back! I have business to take care of!"

Igor spoke softly. "This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It's been quiet some time since we last had a guest. Then again, Master Philemon did say we would be receiving nine new ones soon. You are them, I am to presume? Never mind, no need to answer that. It's quite obvious."

Everyone's sweat dropped. "Where are we precisely?" Eriko asked, curious about the aspects of the blindfolded piano player and the self-deafening singer.

"The Velvet Room is a room that only those bound by a "contract" may enter. The nine of you knew your name in Master Philemon's presence. He gifted you with a Persona. That is your contract and from this day forth, you will be our guests in the Velvet Room."

"The design, like, is blah." Ayase bluntly stated, yawning.

"The performers are intriguing." Kei said, cupping his chin, the thoughts of vengeance suddenly absence from his mind.

"Seriously, you fuckin' long-nosed bastard, let me out!" Reiji strained his fists, trying to rush Igor, but found himself, held back. His muscles stressed attempting to move. "What the hell?" Reiji weakly grunted passed grinding teeth.

"Violence and aggression is not permit in the Velvet Room." Igor lectured. "The Velvet Room is enchanted. You can not disobey the spell."

"GRRH!" Reiji struggled in the air.

Masao tugged him back, loosening Reiji's muscles and ceasing his struggling. "Dude, cool your jets, relax. Don't pop a blood vessel."

"What is the purpose of this room, Igor?" Naoya asked, fiddling with his earring.

"In the words of Master Philemon, 'Your destiny will require you to hone your power and for that, you will inevitably require our help. The Velvet Room is also known as the Room of Personas. A Persona is a side of you that shows itself when you face the world. Think of it as a façade of protection you wear to face hardships in life.'"

Maki looked puzzled. "Uh, Nao-kun, what is he saying?"

"Hm…perhaps that may have been rather difficult to understand. Let me explain it in my own words. In life you all wear many masks to hide your true selves. You each harbor many selves within your selves. My Master has granted you the ability to unleash these selves and utilize them to fight. They are Personas. This is were I come in."

Igor waved his hand a round-table top magically appeared. A deck of cards was stacked, the backs of the cards designed with masks. Igor raised his other hand, a vast row of the same cards in his hand.

"Twenty two spell cards for each of you." The cards vanished, turning into blue sparks that shot into the nine of them.

"What are the cards for?" Yukino asked, tapping her sternum.

"The selves in yourselves are not the only Personas you can utilize in battle. When you call out to the demons you encounter in your journey and negotiating with them, you can propose for them to be your Persona. The Spell Cards allow this. The demons will enter the card, only by their free will, and become your Persona. You can then take this Persona to me and I can do special things with it."

"So, like, we can totally make an army of the like all the monsters we fought." Ayase features were earnest and excited.

"Unfortunately, the Spell Cards do not work as such. If the demon you are trying to call out to and negotiate with is the same Arcana as you, the chances of the demon becoming your Persona are high. If you are not properly aligned by Arcana with the demon, the chances are very low."

Masao and Maki simultaneously titled their heads. "Arcana?" They said at the same time.

Eriko, Naoya, and Kei nodded their heads in understanding. Eriko clapped her hands. "Ah, the mysterious and glorious Arcana used in Tarot readings. My favorite form of fortune telling."

"Care to elaborate." Yukino asked genually pissed off.

"In Tarot, an art of divination, there are twenty-two Major Arcana, each representing something." Kei explained, extrapolating the necessary details. "The Major Arcana consists of Fool, Magician, Priestess, Empress, Emperor, Hierophant, Lovers, Chariot, Justice, Hermit, Fortune, Strength, Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, Devil, Tower, Star, Moon, Sun, Judgement, and The World. The way Tarot is used for fortune-telling is by shuffling the deck from a pile and drawing three cards, each one representing a different point of time. Past, present, and future. Depending on the Arcana and it's positioning the prediction is different."

"Yes, Kei Nanjo, you are indeed correct." Igor complemented.

"How does one such as you know my name?" Kei snapped.

"Please remain calm. My Master has told me your names. Now, Kei Nanjo, with you explanation of the Major Arcana done. I would care to tell you each the designated Arcana, your Personas give you. The representation of your specific Arcana and your own actions driven by the Arcana will inform you of what demons you are aligned with. Now, my guests, stand were you are I am going to read your souls."

The Persona-Users did as instructed. Igor's beading black eyes examined them each thoroughly. The nine could almost physically feel his sight dig in their heart and extract wanted portions. His gloved hand hovered over the stacked deck of cards. His eyes scanning past everyone immediately darting Naoya.

"Naoya Todo, you are…." Igor drew the card, displaying it to Naoya. The card had a light blue border, in a extension of the bottom section, in a half-circle connected to the border was the roman numeral four: "IV." Depicted on the card was Seimen Kongo, his fist arced out to the sides, his head thrust back, apparently yelling. "You are The Emperor, Naoya Todo. You try your best to control the events and the world around you, striving to the fullest, but in the end some elements of life are just not controllable."

"_The Emperor, really? Am I really like that?_"

Igor's eye shifted to Maki. "Maki Sonomura, you are…" Igor drew the second card, showing it. The card had the roman numeral two: "II." The card depicted Maso on her knees, hands folded, praying. "You are The Priestess, Maki Sonomura. You have hidden knowledge and untapped power. You are a female mystery."

Maki gave a half-smile. "Cool! Did you hear Masao-kun? I have untapped power and knowledge."

"Ah, yes, Masao Inaba, you're next. You are…" Igor drew the third card. The card number was the roman numeral seven: "VII." It depicted Ogun standing straight, his spear slung over his shoulders, pressed to the back of his neck horizontally. "You are The Chariot, Masao Inaba. You want victory and conquest. You are self-assertive, a true warrior."

"Awesome! Sure, they ain't nothin' with artist in that description?"

"Kei Nanjo, you are…" Igor drew and displayed the card which was numbered with a roman numeral five: "V." It depicted Aizen Myouou with it's arms crossed, the needle fingers curled over the forearms. "You are The Hierophant, Kei Nanjo. You are an intellectual. Somebody who is educated, authoritative, and obedient to the rules."

"But, of course!" Kei boldly stated arrogantly.

"Sorry, Nanjo, the true intellectual is standing right here." Brown pointed to himself, his teeth nearly glimmering.

"Hidehiko Uesugi, you are…" Igor showed the card, numbered with the roman numeral eight: "VIII." The card depicted Nemain her wings lowered and arms behind her back. "You are the Justice Arcana, Hidehiko Uesugi. I may have made a mistake. The Arcana's description is changed in this case. You rationalize and analysis simple for yourself. You are objective only for your own interests."

"All right! Check it, Masao! I'm the best!"

"Brown, you do realize, he basically just described you as an asshole, right?" Masao, replied to Brown's deaf ears. He was busy cheering himself on in his own world.

"Like, me next! Me next!"

"Yes, Yuka Ayase, you are…" The card was numbered with the roman numeral one: "I." It depicted Hori creating a fireball with her two hands in front of her. "You are The Magician, Yuka Ayase. You have initiative, you are manipulative. You have the power to harness your talents."

"Like, my natural beauty and wit."

"More like your razor sharp tongue." Yukino whispered under her breath.

"Yukino Mayuzumi, you are…" The number on the card was the roman numeral three. "III." The card depicted Vesta, her fabric arms on her hips. "You are The Empress, Yukino Mayuzumi. You are prosperous and creative. You help maintain the peace around others like an ideal mother."

"_No surprise. Kei and I are without a doubt the most mature out of all of us._"

"Oh, am I next. Thank you so much for this opportunity!" Eriko gushed.

"No need to thank me, Eriko Kirishima, you are…" The number read as the roman numeral twenty one: "XX." It depicted Nike her wings valiantly spread and head and halo raised high. "You are The Judgement, Eriko Kirishima. You are aware of yourself and others as well as your own action. Your act as a overseer for your friends, a guardian of sorts."

"I indeed am! My Persona is the goddess of victory! I promised to be the guardian angel of everyone!

"Why the hell am I last? This is taking goddamn forever!" A vein had popped in Reiji's head.

"Last, but not least, Reiji Kido, you are…" Igor drew the ninth card. The card was blacked out. The card was numbered in scarlet the roman numeral for fifteen: "XV." "You are The Devil, Reiji Kido. You are selfish, impulsive, and violent. You are a slave to your own desires, obsessed with vengeance against a man who has wronged you. Your Persona is not appearing on the card? I am not well-versed in an occurrence such as this."

"I was too distracted by The Velvet Room to realize," Naoya started. "Reiji is the fourth strong willed one Philemon was talking about. He has a Persona."

"No shit Sherlock!" Reiji snapped, inching closer to Yukino, still carrying the bag, the handle of the M4 still sticking out. "Cept' mine wasn't given to me by a jackass named Philemon."

Igor's face went white. "No, Master Philemon must've been mistaken, when he said nine. You're soul is black, Reiji Kido. That is why I can't see the Persona in your heart. You were gifted the power of Persona by another. The deity that is the competitor of my Master, N-"

"SHUT THE HELL UP YOU LONG-NOSED BASTARD!" Reiji snatched the M4, shoving Yukino to the velvet carpeted floor. "IF MY FIST CAN'T GET ME OUT OF HERE! BULLETS CAN!" He extended the collapsible stock and aimed the assault rifle at Igor, his finger itching to pull the trigger.

"Be gone!" Igor waved his hand. All of nine of them vanished in a velvet flash.

Igor patted his brow with a handkerchief retrieved from his breast pocket. "My Master has made a grave mistake in his readings. I must speak to him at once."

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Naoya returned to consciousness immediately picking up his MP5, but Reiji was all ready holding the M4 Carbine at the back of Yukino's head. He was taking the clips for the rifle out of the duffel bag and sticking them in his pockets. The rest of them were paralyzed in fear. Reiji forced her to drop the Ithaca and stay still.

"Let me take the gun and run to the stairs and you losers won't sweat it! Fuckin try to stop me or get in the way, my Persona can rain death upon you without a problem!"

"Reiji, you don't have to do this. We can take on Kandori together." Masao pleaded.

Reiji finished stuffing the clips in his pocket, flipping Masao off afterwards. "I'm the one who will take that bastard's life. You can sit here with your thumps up your ass for all I care! I ain't workin with punk-asses like you!" Reiji move backwards into the corridor they originally entered from, training the barrel and sights of his weapon on their heads. He passed columns and the once again empty walls. The doors to the Velvet Room were no longer there. He reached the door to the stairs, kicking it open, and running in.

Yukino exhaled, snatching up the Ithaca. "Son of a bitch!"

Brown fell backwards, trembling. "_Crazed students with a gun after the President of a business company. I should be writing this material down in a notebook. These are some excellent stories to use._"

"Yukino are you all right?" Kei asked, a caring tone in his voice.

"Peachy, just freakin' peachy." She mumbled, grievance emphasized.

Naoya fixed the MP5's strap across his chest, drawing the katana from the sheath. He saw his reflection in the blades surface. "_I can't began to comprehend what the hell just happened. I'm The Emperor, is that related to the fact I'm suppose to be the leader. Reiji pisses off with the M4 to kill Kandori. Jesus, Philemon, you seriously have a load of explaining to do._"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Igor hunched forward, briskly walking to his Master. Philemon stood tall on his platform. His masked face titled upward to the abyss. "I'm sorry to bother your reading of time, Master Philemon, but an incident has occurred."

"Ah, yes, Igor, I know. I have seen it moments ago."

"Then, you know, my Master, Reiji Kido was granted his Persona by another: your competitor."

"Yes, a intricate game of chess the game has become. Regarding Reiji Kido, Igor, do not worry yourself. I have seen the events to come. I can not reveal to you or our guests the true nature of Takahisa Kandori and Reiji Kido's wanting for vengeance at this moment and time."

"Is Reiji Kido still granted access to the Velvet Room, Master Philemon?"

"He is free to enter and exit as he wishes. Please, Igor, my loyal friend and servant, do not trouble yourself with him. He will come around in due time. You can relax and aid our guests."

"I was able to give them the Spell Cards, Master, and read their Arcana, but I was not able to explain the details of the demons Kandori is using to add to his defenses."

"You could sense them even from the Velvet Room, eh, Igor? Since you know of their presence, I can guarantee you the success of our guests. Would you care to watch?"

"Indeed, Master, I would love to. I want to see their abilities thus far."

Philemon waved his hand, summoning forth a revolving mirror. The image of the mirror was the recovering eight Persona-Users.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"Hey, Nao-kun, why did Reiji take the stairs. Isn't the elevator the other way?"

Naoya readied the katana with his right-hand, taking the lead. "Whatever reason we better be careful. Everyone stay close together! Eriko up front with me. Masao, Ayase, Brown behind us. Maki, Kei hang in the back. We're heading to the elevator!"

The eight, in formation, weapons drawn, went to the other corridor. The elevator doors thirty feet in. As they approached, the feet clicking and clacking, the seconds ticking, sparks of silver were crackling to life at their sides. Jagged bolts of electricity strived across the walls, casting blinding lights of silver. The currents connected, the lightning conjuring forth a four-legged beast. The group stopped. The wall of thunder was blocking the elevator doors. The jagged bolts spilled out backwards, the ball of silver lightning spreading it's legs, fierce clawed paws stretched and curled, bushing silver fur grown on the lengths of the legs. An oversized tiger-like body was formed by the lightning, a tail interconnected into the spine, underside the black and silver stripped fur of the back, whipped back and forth. The electricity crashed, forming the last remaining piece: the head of the demonic tiger. A tiger head, bearded with it's fluffy silver fur, it's turquoise eyeballs live with sparks.

"HOLY SHIT!" Masao screamed. "That's a big cat!"

Naoya kept a stern appearance. "Eriko, whatever information you can, before it attacks."

"Spare me the prattle, humans!" The tiger's voice boomed like thunder. "I am one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese Constellation, Bai Hu, or as you in Japan call me, Byakko! I am to guard the elevator to Master Kandori's floor with my life!"

"Well, tough shit, pussy cat, we're hammering our way in!" Masao exclaimed, forfeiting his axe to arm himself with the shotgun once again.

"Kei, Maki, back! Everyone in!" Naoya commanded.

Byakko roared, shaking the floor.

"I'll make quick work of him, Nao!" Eriko placed her rapier by the side of her head. "Come, Nike!" The velvet mist beckoned forth her goddess of victory. "ZIO!" Nike unfolded her wings, casting a bolt of lightning down on Byakko.

The jolt of electricity didn't faze the beast. "Girl, do you call that a shock! I'll show you a shock! ZIONGA!" Byakko patted his paw on the ground, a massive bolt of electricity crashing down Eriko.

"ERIKO!" Naoya yelled, reaching for her.

At the ending of the lightning, Eriko stood tall, Nike hovering above her. "Null Electricty is a passive ability Nike has. If electricity skills won't work on you then your own skills won't work on us either."

"Behold and despair, girl, my power! ELEC BREAK!" Crackles of silver lightning passed over the group of eight at the pounding of Byakko's paw.

"Now, your residence to my thunder is gone! Goodbye, humans, MAZIO!"

Naoya saw, the bolts gathering above their heads seconds before the crash, despair playing across his face. "EVERYONE TOSS YOUR GUNS TO THE SIDE! THE BULLETS WILL EXPLODE!" The bolts cascaded down upon them, electrocuting them moments after they relinquished their firearms.

They screamed out in sheer pain, the currents of electricity coursing throughout their bodies, stinging and shocking their flesh and organs from the inside out. At the end of the summoned lightning, the eight fell, smoke rising off them. The electricity wasn't powerful enough to fry their flesh, but burnt and tore their clothes, tatters of them hit the floor like leafs in the wind.

"Seems I left remains. Puny humans." Byakko sneered.

Maki, weakly raised her hand in the air, the aches of movement abundant.

"They're still alive!"

"Please, help me, MASO! MEDIA!" Maso arose, clapping her hands together, the green energy rejuvenating all eight of students, repairing their disheveled clothing and bodies.

"Yukino, Masao, bombarded him! Kei, Eriko, buff and debuffs! Brown, Ayase, magical offense with me!"

Yukino and Masao picked up their guns.

"You won't survive another!" Byakko growled.

"Oh, shut up, you oversized kitten!" Masao opened firing, rapidly pulling the trigger and pumping the shotgun. Yukino added by firing off and rapidly reloading the two shells of her sawn-off. The buckshot struck Byakko hard in the arms, tearing into his porcelain fur, tainting it with his blue slimy blood. Byakko roared in pain, Masao and Yukino continuously firing and reloading.

Eriko raised her rapier to the side of her head. Kei swiped his broadsword to the side.

"Come, NIKE! RAKUNDA, SUKUNDA!" Nike unfolded her wings, casting a purplish and greenish aura on Byakko, lowering his defense and evasive speed.

"My move, AIZEN MYOUOU! MATAKAJA!" Aizen Myouou arched it's arms out in a hugging fashion, casting a white aura over Naoya, Brown, and Ayase.

Ayase cracked her whip, curling it back up with her hands behind her head. Brown thrust his spear to the sky. Naoya's hand hovered over his face.

"Here, Persony! AGILAO!" Hori danced out of the velvet mist, throwing the medium-sized fireball through the air. It smacked into Byakko's face, singeing his beard.

"Leave it to me! PERSONA! MAZAN" Nemain held out her open palms, launching a barrage of green energy balls that hit Byakko's entire body, blowing away pieces of his fur and matter at contact.

"Here it goes! Seimen Kongo! GARU!" Seimen Kongo punched the air, splashing Byakko's battered figure with a powerful gust of wind that tore through the remainder of his flesh and fur, draining more of the blue blood of the beast.

Masao stopped to load the shells into his shotgun. Yukino opened the Ithaca, ejected the shells. Byakko's body was motionless, silent. She glanced at it, reloading the chambers at the same time, closing the barrels. Byakko suddenly lunged, Masao wasn't finished reloading. Yukino aimed, the tiger's scared maw homing in on her. Yukino was about to pull the trigger, but the demons massive claws pinned her, his slavering mouth dripping his hungry desire on her school uniform. The Ithaca had clattered to their right. Yukino was not struck by the beast's fierce blue eyes.

"YUKINO!" Kei yelled, speeding to her his broadsword drawn. He wouldn't make it in time and their wasn't enough time to aim the shot with the rifle. He didn't even know if the shot to the forehead would kill the demon instantly.

"I'll swallow you whole! GRRH!" Byakko's jaw widen, ready to eat.

Yukino grinned, her pinned arm, breaking free of his weight, snatching up the shotgun. She'd planned it out as soon as she was pinned. She jammed the sawn-off in Byakko's mouth. He choked on his roaring. "SWALLOW THIS!" She pulled the trigger, her elbow bashing into the ground from the recoil, the point-blank buckshot blowing into the back of Byakko's skull, splattering brains, fur, and tissue all over Yukino.

"Yukino!" Kei slammed his shoulder into Byakko's collapsed corpse. It disintegrated into blue light after Kei pushed it off her. Yukino breathed a sigh of relief at the death of the demon and the loss of the weight on top of her.

"Oh, Yukino, look at your hair." Eriko picked out an ounce of demon slime.

Yukino spat to the side, brushing the miniscule fur strands and tissue from her uniform. "I could care less about my hair, Eriko. Just glad that bastard cat is gone."

"At least let me clean it out."

"You can do it in the elevator, Eriko." Naoya instructed calling said elevator to their floor. The doors opened. "We can't let Reiji beat us to Kandori's office."

The eight crowded inside, pressing the button for the fifth floor. The doors shut and the mechanism started bring them up.

Eriko plucked the strands of Yukino's hair with blood. "_It's kinda sad, The Cursed City, is about to come to the close. I was enjoying the stay. Maybe I can write a story about this. I could be on pare with Clive Growler _(A/N: Clive Barker) _or H.P. Passioncraft _(A/N: H.P. Lovecraft.) _Nao could be the main character, I'm the gorgeous maiden who swoons herself at his feet. Perfect, then he takes me, like in my dreams._"

Yukino sighed. "_Jesus, that cat was huge. Damn near the size of my house. Glad the drop of his corpse on me was only a few feet off the ground or I would've been squashed._" She saw Kei in her peripheral vision. He was watching her. "_Do I always have to make the move on the guy I like? He makes things so complicated. I'm not sure if he's even into me. Oh, God, I'm sounding like Eriko now. Forgot it, Yukino, this is not the time nor the situation. Wait until after the asshole behind this shit is done with, then make a move on Kei. Priorities now in order._"

Masao leaned on the wall, the elevator going along at a steady pace. "_So the big boss is at the top of the tower. Ain't it how always goes? Short adventure this has been. Fuckin' bizarre too. Kinda disappointing. Only thing left is to shut down the Deva System and deal with Kandori. We're always saying that, but how exactly are we "dealing" with Kandori. Personally, I'd like to boot the guy off the roof of his own building, but I'm gonna follow Nao's lead. I'll back him no matter what as long as he's still Nao, still my best bud._"

Kei, cheeks flustered contemplated the upcoming events. "_The President of S.E.B.E.C.s office. In reality a stepping stone for me and the Nanjo Group. Those Kirijo Group _(A/N: Referenced in Persona 3. The Nanjo Group was called The Trinity Group because in the original english release of the PS1 version of the first Persona game, they Americanized the names of the protags. as well as the rest of the game. So Kei's last name was changed to Trinity.)_ were too. Of course, they used to be a part of my family's company. We simply surpassed them, leaped farther than they could go. They weren't about business, they were about trying to do nonsensical experiments. Is that what I'm doing this for? To be the number one of Japan or for Yamaoka. My thoughts are conflicting. I cannot grasp what I greatly want._" Kei's vision glanced at Yukino, admiring her figure, her perfect face, her kind personality, and tough exterior and interior._ My decision must come soon, we have passed the third floor. Is Kandori's life going to be lost today…by my hand?_"

Brown stayed in the corner, avoiding puncturing the metal box with his spear or accidentally firing the machine pistol. "_Guess my reward is absolutely bogus, all in my head. Damn._" Brown exhaled sharply. "_What's the matter, Hidehiko, can't raise your own spirits with your bullshit lies. Praise your own awesomeness and handsomeness. Damn it._" Brown's eyes broaden. "_Wait a minute! Where going to the present's office. The present has to keep something secret or expensive in there. I can con or charm him out of his valuable goods. More awesome idea, have him cower at the awesome power of my Persona. Weaved together my epic journey on the level of The Iliad and The Odyssey. The epic tale of Hidehiko "Brown" Uesugi, the baddest dude in Mikage, who decimated cities with his special ally. A self from within himself. His Persona of Justice, Nemain. Hell yes. Blow out a window or two with a Zan skill and he'll be eating out of the palms of my hands._" Brown chuckled conniving.

Ayase patted her lips as she yawned. "_I think that electric shock treatment, like, totally gave me split ends. Now, I have to get my hair done when we're, like, done. The big kitty coming out of like nowhere was fun. Everything else, TOTALLY BORING._ _The things I do for not wanting to be alone._"

Maki counted her arrows in the quiver. "_Twenty. When I run out, I'll switch to the handgun. The brat has to be up here with this Kandori, if she isn't I have to go back, but how do I do that? The way I came in wasn't normal, plus it was a one-way trip. The least I can do is help these guys, they are technically my friends. In return, they can help me when this snafu is ended, if it's ended that is._"

Naoya played with his earring, keeping himself composed and collected. He looked at his friends. "_We here for each individual reasons, but together with one final goal: rescue our city and now were literally one floor away from the man who caused all of this. There are unanswered questions I refuse to settle with. This Maki here with us for example. Reiji having a Persona, not giving to him by Philemon, the reason why we, us, are here, and this enigma of a "competitor" to Philemon, which he doesn't want to tell us who he is what his deal is. I won't let this end without questions like that answered. Hell, maybe, Kandori or Reiji know the answers. Either way they both piss me off. They're selfish. Reiji doesn't give a shit about anyone else, but himself and his own motives. Kandori altered the entire city, putting hundreds of people in dangers for his own goals, which Philemon also never explained. Seriously, how did this cluster fuck occur? Oh, yeah, that damn game of Persona. Because of Brown being a smartass, I'm standing here for the worse, confused, beaten, pissed off beyond belief, and I honestly don't fully know who I am anymore._"

Naoya heard the ding of the bell. The elevator stopped at the fifth floor, the doors opening once more. Naoya drew the katana, taking his first step into another hallway. The oak-crafted doors to Kandori's office tightly shut. Across the hall was the doorway that lead out when taking the stairs. Reiji hadn't arrived yet.

"_Good, I've got to question Kandori before he tries to kill him._"

Naoya moved into the hall, his friends behind him. All of a sudden, Reiji busted through the doors to the stairs, ignoring them. The M4 was slung on his back by the strap. He leaped into Kandori's door, kicking into it, tearing them off their hinges with a snap.

"Hurry!" Naoya yelled clearing the distance as Reiji charged deeper in. "_Let's see who you are Takahisa Kandori!_" The eight of them sped into the office, hearing Reiji angry grunts and a raving laughter of a grown-man. A dark air to his voice. The laugh of a man of pure evil. A man who wrecked a city for his own personal gain. Sitting at his desks, a chasm of darkness behind him, his features mid-aged, but young, his purplish forelock matted to his forehead and sideburns to the rim of his jaw line, dressed in Italian loafers and a black silk double-breasted suit, was Takahisa Kandori, laughing his demonic laugh and his brown eyes glaring daggers that penetrated their subconscious. They had met the man behind it all, a madman in a business suit. He was a demon wearing human skin to them.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

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><p>AN: Imagine, one Miles Edgeworth sprites from Phoenix Wright. You'll probably understand if you've played the game before.

I didn't want to put foot, because I wasn't sure if it would come off how I wanted.

Second longest chapter so far, 38 pages prior to be proofread and edited. Unfortunately 75% of the whole thing was filler and the next chapter is going to be short. Now since I used Byakko, you can probably tell the rest of the quartet if you know your Chinese legends, but you'll be surprised at certain parts and for the record, the novelization isn't anywhere near over if you thought it was from people's perspectives. Hell no, we are barely twenty five percent done with this baby. At least 23 more chapters, I said I wanted a total of thirty. Now yes even though the next chapter is short, it will take awhile, because I take a few days for breaks before and in between, but the whole of the next chapter is basically two scenes that are relatively short, but important. Also I should mention that some of these scenes were my own creation. Basically the second half of Igor's part. His speech is like that in-game. The Velvet Room looks like that in-game, but the Arcana readings was my idea and those Arcana are their actual Arcana in-game. Reiji is a somewhat sorta pseudo modified, but I can't go into details about that without spoiling stuff. With following Chapter 8, Chapter 9 is relatively short, but 10 are going to be long-ass chapters mostly because of my own scenes to develop Naoya and Reiji. Either way, I hope you enjoyed Chapter Seven of Persona: Be Your True Mind, and I'll see you next time for Chapter Eight: S.E.B.E.C. Building Part 2: Takeda.


	8. Chapter 8: SEBEC Building Part 2: Takeda

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything._

Time for chapter eight. Somewhat short, but Chapter 9 and Chapter 10 will make up for that in the long run. This chapter is also kinda padding, once again not really filler, but technically I could combine this and Chapter 9 together if I wanted, but I prefer to not try to cram too much together and since some stuff does happen in this chapter that would be easier to leave on a cliffhanger. Plus, I think it be better for me to write two four scene chapters instead of one eight scene chapter that will throw a lot at you at once. With that aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind Chapter Eight.

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><p><em>Chapter Eight: S.E.B.E.C. Building Part 2: Takeda<em>

Kandori, ceasing his laughter, arose from his cushioned seat. A stern-faced man, dressed in a brown business suit emerged from the abyss. The man was seven foot and clean-cut. He cocked a Desert Eagle, aiming it at Reiji. Four S.P.s followed behind him, sprinting, lining up in a row besides Kandori's desk, training their high-powered guns on the remaining Persona-Users before they could react.

"How did children get in here?" The stern man asked, flabbergasted.

"This is a disgrace, Takeda. First, you let Setsuko Sonomura escape and now you let Reiji Kido and these brats waltz in. When did my company become a nursery?" Kandori was grinning an evil smile.

Brown and Ayase kept to the back of the group. "_Use everyone else as a shield._" They both thought.

"You bastard! I'll wring your neck!" Reiji shouted.

Kandori wagged his finger at the scarred boy. "Tsk! Tsk! Reiji, I'm not sure how the nine of you got passed Byakko, but you won't survive a rain of high-powered rounds."

Maki turned her head. "_This is…Kandori?_"

Kei spoke up, keeping his broadsword to his hip. "I see you haven't changed a bit Kandori."

"My, my, the young master of the Nanjo Group. Surprise to see you here. Now, I can deal with two nuisance previously forever in my life."

"Your must be pushing your scientists and workers to the limits with the Deva System." Naoya said, poison in his words.

For a moment, Kandori's serious face faltered. "Preposterous!" He spat. "Insolent curs such as you shouldn't know a thing about the Deva System!" Kandori turned his deadly gaze towards Takeda. The tall man broke out in a nervous sweat, greatly frightened.

Kei turned to Masao and Yukino, nodding his head. In response they replied with a nod. Naoya trained his eyes on the weapons of the S.P.s.

"_Nanjo's got a plan. I'll knock out the guards on his signal. No need to kill them._" Masao kept his ears open for Kei and Nao's signal.

Yukino reached for the Ithaca in her waistband. "_When Kei gives the sign, I'll summon Vesta and fire a Frei at Kandori. If that doesn't finish him, I'll blow him away with the sawn-off and end this shit for good._"

"You are fully responsible for this, Takeda! You let Setsuko escape without confirming her killed! She leaked the information, because you couldn't kill a messily woman, my whole plan can be compromised!"

"S-s-sir…I'm….terrible sorry." He stammered, trying to find a way to resolve the situation.

Naoya's eye twitched. The S.P.s were looking away to watch Kandori berate Takeda. Kei saw it too.

"Masao! Yukino! NOW!" He ordered.

"Let's do it to it! Ogun! Double Fang!" Masao rose his axe in the air.

"Ha! Vesta! Frei!" Yukino punched the air.

Ogun and Vesta materialized from the velvet mist. Ogun lunged forward striking two flurries of thrusts. The rapid stabs sent the men to their knees, holes tearing through their shirts and Kevlar, barely wounding their actually flesh. Vesta's cupped hands fired the cannonade of energy straight at Kandori.

Kandori returned to his beginning position, staring down the Frei spell without backing down. "You're Persona Users as well. Interesting." He spun two steel balls in his hand, retrieved from his suit's pocket. A scarlet mist was gathering around his feet, rising higher up. He grasped the balls in his palms hard. "PERSONA!" He exclaimed, a burst of red energy blowing away Yukino's attack.

The residual of the burst threw the nine teens back. Kandori's Persona appeared for a few seconds, silhouetted. He was stepping into the abyss. "Takeda, deal with them. I don't care how. Just don't leave a mess. I'm going to the labs, the scientist need to finish the arrangements on the Deva System." Kandori proceeded to sprint farther into the darkness, apparently a light-less downward corridor to the labs and more importantly the Deva System.

Takeda had lowered his weapon to see Kandori summon his Persona. He was off-guard. Reiji took the opportunity, jumping onto the desk and leaping into the dark corridor.

"Shit!" Takeda cursed. "You damn kids!" Takeda raised his weapon, firing.

Naoya rolled to the left, narrowly avoiding being hit. "Go to the hall! There isn't any cover here!"

Takeda fired again. Naoya hopped up, landing on his stomach and sliding into the hall. Takeda continued to fire, Kei returned fire with his rifle, driving Takeda to use Kandori's desk as cover. The others dodged his blind firing, taking the opportunity when he reloaded to take cover in the hall.

"Nao, what should we do? Return fire?" Masao, asked, shotgun in hand.

"Nao-kun, he is human." Maki reasoned. "Do we have to kill him?"

Naoya banged the back of his head on the wall, the MP5 in his lap. "_Shit, shit, I didn't think I would need to make a decision like this for somebody other than Kandori._"

"Make your decision quick, Todo! He'll wise up and move in soon!" Kei informed, un-strapping his rifle to make his shots more accurate.

"Ah, fuck clips!" Takeda discarded his firearm, jumping from his cover. "I've got something much stronger!" The scarlet mist arose around his feet.

"He has a Persona!" Yukino exclaimed.

"Kei!" Naoya called. "Rush him before he summons! Yukino back him up!"

Kei took up his broadsword, running to the office, Yukino behind. He swiped the sword to the right approaching Takeda. He slammed the broadsword on Takeda's right just as the tall-man yelled, "Behold the power! TITAN!"

Kei felt a slicing pain on his own right. A giant wound, a slash, was bleeding. "What the hell?"

Titan was a naked man, tan and pale skin, ornate with lilac snake tattoos crossing all across the body. He was a brunette, the brown hair styled wildly. The Persona stood above Kei sharing a smug grin with it's master, flexing it's muscular forearms. "Repel Physical, a passive ability of my Persona, Titan! You hit yourself with your own attack!"

"Damn it!" Kei's fell back. Yukino caught him. She aimed the Ithaca. "You son of a bitch!" She sighted his head.

"EARTHLY VORTEX!" Takeda bellowed. Titan punched the carpeted floor. Before Yukino could fire, a storm of boulders shot out of the ground, bombarding her and Kei with their massive density. The boulders were erupting and spinning from beneath their feet, carrying them into the air and throwing them back into the hall.

With a loud thud they landed. Maki and Masao at their side immediately. They both were badly bleeding and bruised.

"Pa-fuckin'-thetic!" Takeda exclaimed.

Maki went to healing. Masao looked at Naoya. "Nao, we have no choice, but either shoot him or use our Personas."

"I know, Mark!" He snapped, furious.

Masaon aimed his shotgun into the office, leaning into the threshold. "_I'll only hit his legs._"

"EARTHLY VORTEX!"

Titan punched the floor again, sending a spiraling eruption of boulders underneath Masao's feet. He was pelted from all angles and thrown onto Brown and Ayase cowering in the corner. Eriko kept by Naoya's side.

"Naoya, we have to fight back!" She yelled.

Naoya was shaking violently. He cast aside his katana and submachine gun. "_No more!_" He thought. He continued shaking, standing up. "What are you doing, Naoya?" Eriko asked. Naoya didn't respond. He threw himself through the threshold at Takeda, his hand vibrating in front of his face. The mist was forming, wrapping around his body.

"EARTHLY VORTEX!" Titan hit the ground again.

"YAAAAAAAAAAA!" Naoya yelled out in rage, the velvet mist completing enveloping him. "PERSONA! MAGARULA!" Seimen Kongo appeared, punching the air, unleashing eddies of torrential savage wind rotating at powerfully fast speeds around Naoya and the rest of the office. The boulders firing under Naoya were reduced to dirt. The green wind was ferociously slashing, throwing the objects of the room in a tornado pattern. Takeda hit the wall, Kandori's desk bashing into his stomach. Naoya yelled louder and louder, shrieking at this point.

"PULINPA!" Seimen Kongo screeched, visible sound waves shooting into Takeda. The reverberation of the Personas scream filled the man's ear canals.

"WHAT'S THE MATTER, HUH? CAN'T BE MISTER BIG AND BAD WHEN YOU CAN'T CONCENTRATE TO SUMMON YOUR PERSONA! SPIN KICK!" Seimen Kongo yelled with Naoya, planting the kick in Takeda's face.

"GARULA!" The Persona punched the air, a spiral of strong wind spread and forced Takeda against the wall, leaving an indentation of his figure in the surface.

"HAVEN'T HAD ENOUGH YET?" Seimen Kongo thrust his hand forward, grabbing Takeda by the throat. "I'M GOING TO SQUEEZE THE LIFE OUT OF YOU!" Takeda gasped for air, his breaths being robbed by Seimen Kongo's supreme grip. Naoya was laughing, laughing like a madman, similar to Kandori ten minutes ago; his Persona yelling, a dominant conquering roar.

"FINISH HIM, SEIMEN KONGO! TEAR HIM TO SHREDS! GARUD-"

"Nao-kun stop it!" Maki was yanking his arm. "He's unconscious! We can go after Kandori! You don't have to kill him!"

Naoya stopped laughing, his eyes drooping. Seimen Kongo vanished dropping the out-cold Takeda. "What was I doing?" He asked, dazed and confused. "Was I laughing? I blacked out when Mark was hit."

Maki loosened her grip on his arm. "You mean to tell me you don't remember you wrecked the hell out of this place! You nearly killed him, Naoya!"

Naoya was shocked. "Did I? I must've lost control or something. I don't know."

Eriko walked closer to him, fearsome of Naoya. "Are you okay, brave leader?" She said, unenthusiastically. Newly healed Kei, Yukino and Masao were behind her with Ayase and Brown, the two relieved that the battle was over.

Brown let out an exhaled breath. "_Yikes, that was intense. The boss-man got away. There may still be time for the cash. No safe in here. I'll see what I can make due with when we catch up with him._"

Ayase's lips were quivering. "_Holy crap, Naoya is scary. He totally went ape-shit on that guy_!"

"Dude, did a tornado come through here in the minute and a half I was out?" Masao asked rubbing his shoulder, convinced there still was a bruise.

"We can discuss what happened later." Kei said. "Right now, we have to catch up to Kandori and Reiji."

"Kei's right." Yukino agreed.

Kei ran through the darkness, everyone, but Naoya and Maki following behind. "Come on, Nao-kun!"

"I'll be there in a minute, Maki. Go on ahead, I have to get my weapons."

Maki jogged to the long down the corridor. "Don't take long!" She sighed. "_Guess she isn't here. Let's deal with Kandori and I'll try to find a way back._"

"Yeah." He whispered, walking to the hall, crouching to a knee to pick up his sword and gun. His mind was in turmoil, his brain jumbled with more questions. "_What the hell did I just do? What the FUCK happened_? _Kandori and Takeda, they have Personas. We knocked out the guards. I never wanted to kill. If I never wanted to kill, then how are we going to deal with Kandori? Maki snapped me back to reality before I killed Takeda. I lost control. Why? Am I really me right now? Was back there, that relentless, cruel person, me? GODDAMN IT! I just want to go home and sleep! Forgot any of this ever fuckin' happened! OR better yet, wake up and realize all of this was a fuckin nightmare brought on by Mom's crappy pot-roast. That would make my fucking day, it really would._"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Kei led them down the relatively straight way. "_I can tell, Todo, broke down after that. I'll have to lead us from now on. If Todo cannot decide under pressure or has an uncontrollable outburst, we're all going to be dead. This won't matter in the long run, considering all of this is about to end._"

Masao bit his lip. "_Nao, did all that back there? That's what Eriko told me. Wow, I've never seen or heard Nao explode like that. He's not even passive aggressive. He just doesn't say or do much, but this is different._"

Eriko glanced back, unable to see the gray uniforms of Naoya and Maki following. "_Why are they taking so long? Is Naoya having a heart-to-heart with her? I should've sounded more concerned, but I was scared. Naoya looked possessed. He was screaming while he was attacking Takeda, laughing as his Persona was choking him. What came over him? It was like when we left the school, the overly aggressiveness, but this was taken to a whole new level._"

Yukino tried to refrain from tripping forward, the ammunition bags contents still heaved on her back. "_I can't believe I got beat by two arrogant dickhead in business suits. Thankfully, Maki can heal us, but I was worried. Can't believe underlings can wreck three of us this badly. We have to be more cautious especially with Kandori. He blocked my Frei and pushed us all back just by summoning his Persona. He is not going down without a fight._"

Naoya soon joined them, struggling to catch up to the distance they put between the office. The darkness appeared endless. Naoya noticed the walls were painted red when his eyes adjusted. The clanking of shoes against metal echoed in the void. They reached a deviation in the path, leading to a hallway. Glass frames and electronic doors lined the walls. Contained within the cell-like rooms were men and women in white lab coats; Kandori's scientist working and tuning machinery and wiring circuitry. The doors were electrically locked. The employees of S.E.B.E.C. were confined, ordered to create and modify the crafty conceptions.

Maki pursed her lips, slowing her step. "This…is…familiar." She hissed.

"Maki, what you talkin' bout'?" Masao asked.

"I'm…not…sure."

"DIE KANDORI!" Reiji shouting accompanied his feet's belabor.

"They're in there!" Kei announced.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Kandori's mouth widen in a gleeful smile, the biggest he managed that day. He was in the room established for the Deva System: The Dimensional Variable Accelerator System. "What a gorgeous machine?" He thought. His feet tapped on the checker plated walkway, the chains dangling off the rusty guard railings on the rims of the suspended bridge above the bottomless cavern of technology. In a open space a few paces from where he was, a bank of consoles rested. A holographic projector was erected beside it, displaying a overview of Mikage. Braces and tourniquets were extending out of it's illumination point, apparently used as restraints, a victim absent from their cold metal grasps. A elderly man in a white lab coat was eagerly typing away at a keyboard on the console. Dr. Nicolai, the creator of the Deva Technology by threat, or "order", from Kandori himself. The good doctor was preparing the Deva System for initialization. The consoles were wired beneath the bridge to the twenty foot tall steel cylinder resting in the middle of the void of a room the size of a football field. The cylinder technically was two separate metal tubes with a reasonable distance between the two of them in their vertical stance. The parted distance in between was encased in glass, gyros, gears, and other forms of motion generating apparatuses were on the ends of the cylinders. They were all ready rotating at a slow speed. Along the walls, wires and pipes were connected to the cylinders, trailing all the way up and down the lengths of the structure. At the bridge's level, there was a retractable door designed to be opened until the codes were entered or someone or something stepped inside. At that instance, the generators rigged to the machinery would fire up, reading the parameters set by the directory consoles to do what should be done with the contents. The particles could be separated and rearranged or shot to a specific place. The possibilities were endless with the Deva System, with the proper settings and adjustments the Deva System could make any alteration to the terrain, to the person or object within, or create whatever it wanted. The technology was omnipotent, literally godlike. The almighty ability to alter the dimension to those whoever held control over it. Perfect for Takahisa Kandori.

"Dr. Nicolai is the System ready to send me?"

"One moment Mr. Kandori." Dr. Nicolai weakly said in his thick Russian accent.

"Master Kandori," He arrogantly correct. "My dear doctor, I will soon be higher than humanity. You will address me as your Master."

Dr. Nicolai glared at Kandori. "_Not if I have anything to say about it, comrade. You and I will pay for our sins. I'll see to it_." Nicolai shook the sweat out of his bowl-cut gray hair.

Nicolai hit the last key, the gyros picking up speed. He approached Kandori in the narrower portion of the bridge by the entrance to the machine. "The core and the host are starting up now at the bottommost level. You'll be ready to leave in a matter of moments."

"KANDORI!"

"Ah, I thought you would never make it Reiji." Kandori turned to Reiji who had shoulder-barged his way into the room.

The young boy was showing his canines, preparing his fists, and stomping to Kandori. "You have no idea how long I have waited for the day and opportunity, KANDORI! You will pay for what you and your father have done!"

Kandori raised his hands in the air. "Please, Reiji," He said in a smug manner. "Don't make me laugh more than I've already have. What do you say, you put the fists down and we talk this out like adults."

"FUCK YOU!" Reiji threw an uppercut into the air.

"Oh come on, Reiji, you don't want to kill me in an instant with your Persona."

Reiji stopped, his arm falling back in position.

"You don't even want to shoot me with your assault rifle. You want my blood on your fists, don't you? You want to hear my bones break, my body bruise, my soul suffer, don't you?" Kandori touched the back of his pant leg, hidden behind his appendage was a leathery scabbard, a saber tuck in. Kandori's put both his hand behind his back, his dominant hand grabbing the weapon. "I'll give you a free shot, Reiji. See if you can kill me, I won't move a muscle."

Dr. Nicolai, worried, kept to the guard rail, unaware that the evil man before him was armed. He turned towards Reiji who was grinding his teeth and sweeping his feet on the checker plate. He snarled, like a bull ready to charge the matador, little did he know he was going to miss the red cloth.

"DIE KANDORI!" Reiji charged forward, his gloved fist ready to pound the life out of the president..

Kandori shifted to the left, his shit-eating grin huge. "I'll give you a second scar to the match the first I gave you, you churlish offspring!" Reiji sped right passed Kandori, possessing to much momentum to stop on a dim in the narrow area. Kandori saw Reiji's whipping jacket, swiping out his saber slashing Reiji twice in a perfect "X" through his school blazer and back. The M4 was unaffected, because it was hanging around his shoulder. Kandori planted a sharp kick to Reiji's spine, throwing the youth farther forward to the Deva System. "Enjoy your stay! HAHAHA!"

"ARGH!" Reiji yelled in pain, falling face first into the Deva System room. The retractable door slamming closed, blocking any escape or entrance. Reiji leaped up and kicked at the door futilely, putting all his strength in his kicks and punches. "YOU SON OF A BITCH, KANDORI! I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS! YOUR LIFE WILL END BY MY HANDS!".

In seconds, the chamber was brilliantly filled with a white light, the separation of the cylinders was generating a ball of pure, raw concentrated energy, pulsating and expanding in the similar-shape and fashion to the sun. In a series of flashes, bangs, strobes, mechanical clanking, and electrical sparks, the lights died away, the door swung open. The chamber was empty, Reiji no longer inside.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

* * *

><p>Sorry, I'm a day or two late, been distracted with Persona 2: Innocent Sin PSP. Plus, I think this was the shortest chapter so far anyway. Once again, reasons for doing that is because if I tried to combine this and the next chapter, it would take a lot longer to put out and the chapter would be really long. Personally, not really regarding this chapter with high standards, the situations were difficult to fully write understandably and the lack of commentary and inner thoughts of others is purposefully, because in the next chapter, the first of the two main plot twists of the game come in to play were everyone will have thoughts. Regarding, Naoya's black out, don't really take it as the generic BEAST WITHIN BREAKS OUT sorta thing because it's nothing like that at all. Either way, I hoped you enjoyed Chapter Eight of Persona: Be Your True Mind, and I'll see you next time for Chapter Nine: A Choice.<p> 


	9. Chapter 9: A Choice

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything._

So, here we are Chapter Nine. If I had to put the whole novelization into story arcs, this would be the end of the first of three. The first arc is the S.E.B.E.C. Arc Chapters 1-9 The second to longest arc in the novelization. At Chapter Ten I'll reveal the name of the next arc, that one being the longest in the novelization. This chapter is most likely going to be three to four scenes, it's going to throw a lot of explanation at you and end on another small cliffhanger. Now, Chapter Ten is going to make up for the shortness of this and Chapter Eight. With that aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind Chapter Nine.

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><p><em>Chapter Nine: A Choice<em>

Kei was the first to go into the Deva System chamber, everyone else following behind him. Kandori and Dr. Nicolai were by the chamber's entrance. They hadn't noticed their arrival. "_Kido isn't here? Where could an ape such as him have gone?_" Kei thought, checking his rifle, preparing to fire when ready.

"Dr. Nicolai prepare the system again."

"Please, reconsider this Mr. Kandori!" Dr. Nicolai pleaded. "Stop the system and atone for your sins!"

"It is the rest of mankind that must atone. What I have done here is nothing more than facilitate that process."

"But that young man…You didn't have to send him to the dimensional rift! What did you hope to gain by throwing away a child's life?"

Kei gasped. "_Kido…Kandori sent him to a dimensional rift. What is that projection over there. It's Mikage. Is that the rift?_"

"I won't allow anyone to stand in my way. Not even a child…especially Reiji Kido! Judgment will come regardless. It's only a question of sooner, or later."

"Kandori, you're not goin' anywhere!" Masao exclaimed swinging his axe in the air.

Kandori and Nicolai turned. Kei trained his rifle. Kandori leveled his saber. "Ah…I had a feeling you'd come. So you beat Takeda? He always was useless."

Kei's lip curled. He sighted his rifle. "Your time has come, Kandori!" Kei announced as if ready to fire. He had Kandori's head in the scope. He could end it all, but his finger was twitching back and forth, his vision blurring. "_Why can't I fire? Is shooting a human being, no a monster in human skin, truly this complex. Can I not cast aside my reservation for this one instance to end the turmoil and replace it with the halcyon?_"

Kandori snickered. "Loud noises from young children; I don't have time for you." The president snatched at Dr. Nicolai's arm, Kei's aim and trigger finger continuing to waver.

"Nanjo, come on shoot him!" Masao snapped.

"I have matters to attend to. Come, my good doctor." Kandori spun around with the Russian scientist and entered the chamber, the door closing.

"NO! Wait!" Masao ran to the door, his axe skidding across the steel surface, barely leaving a scratch.

Kei's furrowed, sweat-soaked brow relaxed, his rifle being secured to his back again. "This is the Deva System, then? What are Kandori's plans for this?"

Maki eyes were darting left and right, between the chamber, the holographic projector, the consoles, and the restraints. "This machine…I….where do I know this thing from?" She was examining the restraints and projection of Mikage intently, ignoring Kandori entirely.

Yukino aimed her shotgun at the door. "Move it, Mark!"

Masao pulled her arm down, harshly. "Are you stupid, Yukino? Do you know what'll happen if you fire the buckshot into that steel, it'll either "A" dent it and do jack shit or "B" ricochet and nail us instead."

Yukino grunted, jerking her arm free. "Damn it!" She slammed her fist on the guard railing. "Fucking damn it!" She was pissed. "_How the hell are we going to get at him now. He's gonna get away to that rift thing he said he sent Reiji too? How the hell are we suppose to go after him? Wait, what's that noise? Gears are spinning, the structure is creating a ball of light, but something's wrong, the chamber Kandori and the doc are in, the neon lights on the parameter…are beeping red._"

The bridge and building began to shake. "Gah! What the?" Maki nearly fell into the projection, Naoya caught her in his arms, placing her back on her feet, the bridge continuing to rock. "_Somethin' tells me this isn't how the process goes?_" He thought.

Kandori growled in detest. "Ngh! What's happening? GRAAAH! I'm disappearing, Nicolai! What's happening?" The devious man demanded.

"It's over, comrade! You and I are going down together! For your treachery, for your crimes, for all mankind…you will atone! The Deva System hasn't been fully calibrated to fire twice in a row!"

"Nicolai, you swine! How dare you betray me?"

"Outside, young ones! If we are reduced to our component atoms, the system will stop! The barrier enclosing the town will be released! The demon will be gone! Leave us and escape! We will both perish, but this town will be set free from this tyrant's control!"

"You out there! Boy! The one with the earring! Stop the system!"

"C'mon, old man!" Masao sliced the door with his axe again. "_Death is the end of the line, man. As long as you're alive you can do good!_" Masao sliced the door a third time. "You don't have to throw your life away!" Masao threw his head back, looking Naoya dead in the face. He was standing by the controls with Maki. "Nao, let's save him! There's no need for the old guy to die just 'cause of Kandori! We'll smack down Kandori ourselves! That's what we came for, isn't it, Nao?"

"Masao, wait!" Kei retorted. "_We have to be adults about the situation. There comes a time when one must take responsibility for one's actions._" Kei tucked his scarf into his shirt. "The old man must have invented the Deva System. He's taking responsibility. We should respect his wishes, Todo. We don't even know how to stop the machine."

"Nao-kun!" Maki called. "_I've had enough, I don't want any more deaths. No one wants to die, right?_" Maki pointed to the console labeled with Dimensional Variable Accelerator System. "Here! This machine has two buttons! The blue increases energy output, but the red one is the emergency stop! If you push it, we can save him!"

Kei's eyed her, astonished. "Maki? Where did you learn that?" he shouted.

"I don't know how I know! I just don't know!"

"_This "Maki" is quite an enigma. How does she tie into this?_" Kei pondered.

Naoya hesitantly looked back and forth at Maki, Kei, and Masao. He shifted his gaze to Yukino, Brown, Eriko, and Ayase.

"Come on, Nao!" Yukino spat. "The answer is overt! Let the bastard die!"

Brown twiddled his thumps. "_This is really, real right now. We hold the life of an innocent man and guilty man in our hands, only problem there both stuck in either death or life and we gotta choose._" Brown was sweating. "FUCK, N.T., this is way too much for me! I can't decide!"

Ayase's hand folded behind her head, the whip curled up in her right hand. "_This is kinda, like interesting, but I'm totally in the mood for a bath right about now. I want to go home, so..._" She parted her lips. "Like, I don't know. If you ask me, they both deserve it."

"_Oh, brave leader, I know deep in your heart you can make the right decision. Don't let a old man waste his own life on a black soul like Kandori._" Eriko spoke up next. "Naoya…you're the leader you have to make the decision? Quickly, please!"

"Nao-kun! Hurry!"

Naoya's grabbed the sides of his head, his hair straggling between his fingers, his nervous tremors taking over, the cold sweat beeding. "_Why do I have to make the choice? How can I please everyone? Kei, Yukino, and Ayase want them dead, Mark, Maki, and I guess Eriko want Nicolai to live!_ _'Go, son, I've lived my life. You four still need to live yours. So, I ask you again, please go and let me save your four lives in my final moments.' The doctor at the hospital, he thanked me for letting him die to save us. Is this the same? Nicolai wants us to let him die to save us. I tried to save him, he was on his last leg. He's begging us to leave him be, let him sacrifice himself and Kandori to free Mikage. His wishes are to pay for his crime, atone for his sins of developing a machine that allowed whoever controls it to play a god. The clocks ticking, everyone's looking to me to choose, their eyes digging into me, their faces burning themselves into my brain. I can't choose! I can't!_ _'You are The Emperor, Naoya Todo. You try your best to control the events and the world around you, striving to the fullest, but in the end some elements of life are just not controllable.' I strive to the fullest, trying to please everyone, but in the end some things in life are just not in my control. So, I shouldn't please everyone, I can't please everyone, I can't even please myself, I can't control the world around me. I understand. No more lives will be lost needlessly. I'm not doing this for anyone other than myself. It may be selfish, I don't care. I couldn't save one doctor, but I sure as hell can save this one!_"

Naoya went to the switches. "Red or blue, what's it gonna be, Nao-kun?"

Naoya spotted the red button and slammed his hand hard on it. More rumble commenced. Maki gasped. "N-no way! It didn't stop!"

"Then what the hell's happening?" Naoya exclaimed.

Kandori's ecstatic voice pierced the sounds of shaking. "What in the…I'm rematerializing! I see…it's you…you're calling for me!"

Nicolai's terror-stricken voiced seconded Kandori's. "H-How can this be? Don't tell me…Is she-?"

The rumbling halted and a blinding flare filled the chasm with light. A girl in a ebony dress had materialized. She was three feet tall and stood up by retraceable door. She was leering straight towards Maki halfway across the room. Her hair was brown and her features fierce. The child's hair was tied back in a ponytail with a red ribbon tied in a bow, her skin colored a creamy pale, as white as fish bellies.

"YOU!" Maki shouted accusingly. "_She IS here!_"

The girl spoke, pausing for a moment. In a young, sickly sour tone she said. "I won't let you kill my Daddy! Let's leave now, Daddy!" She aimed a insipid finger up in the air.

A feeling of distortion and unease surrounded the students. The room itself seemed to bend as if matter was combining into one mass. Blue and red sparks sizzled over head, shooting currents of electricity at each other layering on top of each other. The blue and red merged, spiraling together, creating a lean disc, floating in midair. The center of the disc was a warped image of Mikage, the same as on the projector/restraints. The swirling void motioning them forth to the picture.

"Heh, heheh…HAHAHA! I refuse to die! Now…take me to your world!"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Maki's ribbon un-knotted inside the void of turning gears and cogs. She snatched it before it flew away into nothingness. "_Where heading back? She's must've meant to only transport Kandori there, but she's dragging all of us along. This is gonna be as brief as last time. I can't see either of them. We're deviating to another location. Where are we going to land? Back at the school? On the other side of the town? Please, let us land back at the school. I could real use there help to stop that brat! I also have to check-up on Yosuke and Tsutomu._" Maki clutched the bow, quiver, and ribbon to her chest, closing her eyes, letting her bangs whip backwards at her descend into the abyss of black and blue.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Kei skidded against a varnished wooden floor after the open-end of the white void spat the eight of them out. His glasses slid from his nose, gently hitting the floor. His broadsword and rifle were still secured to his back, now pressed into it. Yukino had landed on him, her rear adding weight on his weapons.

Naoya rose to his feet, helping Eriko up as well.

Masao, who had quickly recovered was examining his surroundings. "Always figured Yukino would end up on top." He joked.

Yukino blushed slightly, immediately replacing the embarassment with rage. "Shut up, Masao!" She jumped to her feet, aiding Kei.

"I think the more important matter is where are we, Masao." Kei retorted, fixing his spectacles.

"That's what I'd like to know! How the hell is an honest man, like myself suppose to make easy cash when shit keeps jumping-the-shark at every turn!" Brown was failing at twirling his spear, the TMP safely tucked in his pants, clearly flustered at the change of situation.

"Like, my ass is totally sore!" Ayase whined, rubbing said ass.

Masao rolled his eyes. "_No surprise there. She's probably used to that._" During the roll, his eyes caught Maki's ribbon. She was a heap on the floor, her hair loose and free, the ribbon grasped in her tiny palm.

"M-Maki! Are you okay?"

Maki, stirred with Masao's yelling, came to. "Nggh! Ma…sao-kun?"

Masao held her hands in his, pulling her up, red coloring his face. "You okay?" He sheepishly asked.

She replied with a wide smile, running to Naoya's side with Eriko.

Yukino jabbed him a few times in the ribs. "Hey, Masao, you really know how to blow your chances, don't ya?"

"Shut up, Yukino." He hissed through gritted teeth.

"All joking aside," Naoya said prominently. "Is any one injured?"

Each one shook their heads.

"Looks like everyone's unhurt. We certainly have the devil's luck." Kei stated, observing the surroundings as Masao did.

"You noticed it too, Nanjo." Masao chimed in. "Isn't this the school gym? The one they tore down six months ago?"

"We've gone back…" Maki said out loud without thinking.

Masao raised an eyebrow. "Gone back? To six months ago? C'mon, Maki, snap out of it!"

"Are you referring to a time slip, Sonomura? That's rather different than what your mother said," Kei said, assuming his signature posture, folding his arms, head raised high.

"I don't have a real mom, Kei. Now that I think about it, I never thought the stuff Yosuke was saying was…actually true…until I went there." Maki had retied the ribbon in her hair.

"Yosuke?" Masao spouted. "The Yosuke who went missing two months ago?"

Before Maki could answer, a girl wearing the St. Hermelin uniform burst into the gym. "Oh, Maki! There your are!" She was panicked. "It's really bad, Maki! Yosuke got seriously hurt! That girl in the black, came back again…"

"No way! Th-that's impossible! Yosuke!" Maki ran passed the girl through the swinging doors of the gym.

"Hey, Maki!" Masao called, but she didn't respond. "_What the hell is Yosuke doing here? Does that mean Chisato is here too?_"

Kei hmphed. "That dolt. I can't believe she took off on her own at a time like this. Come on, Todo. We'd better go after Maki." Kei sharply sighed. "_Maki is acting strangely, especially with the familiarity with the DEVA equipment, Kandori's labs, that little girl who was striking similar to the crying child who appeared when we played Persona. Including her unfamiliarity with common logic of the real world. Also, is this really six months ago? That girl did come here looking for Maki specifically, but Maki was hospitalized six months ago. This mysterious has many pieces present. I just need to connect them to complete the puzzle._"

"Kei's right." Naoya said.

"Hey, are you guys friends with Maki and Yosuke?" The girl asked. "I think they make a cute couple."

Kei's eyes broaden. "You there, how many days are left until the sports festival?"

"The sport festival is still a month off."

"So, the date's the same." Kei said to himself. "Tell me, which year am I in?"

"Do you have amnesia or something? We're all second-year students! Man, I gotta tell the others about this!" The girl ran off.

"Everything's the same as we left. Stranger and stranger…" Kei whispered.

"Hey, Nanjo, why'd you give the girl the third degree? We gotta go after Maki." Masao asked.

"Building on a hunch, Masao. Todo, let us leave. If we are indeed in the same St. Hermelin, we better conceal our weapons in case Hanya is roaming the halls."

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"Man, this place is exactly the same, bar a few details." Brown was astonished, the spear leisurely hiding under his coat. "Like, the hole in the room before the gym isn't there, the gym isn't new. The student body is abroad with stories of a girl in a black dress attacking the school."

"Brown, stop admiring and keep up!" Yukino scolded. "Maki went upstairs."

"I think she's heading for the library." Eriko added.

"She wasn't in the infirmary." Masao stated. "Nurse Natsumi and Ms. Saeko were there though?"

"Nurse Natsumi was, like, the same old too. She's a total skank." Ayase insulted, resisting the temptation of cracking her whip.

"Ms. Saeko wouldn't say anything. She wasn't the same." Yukino said, somberly.

"Where close to the library?" Naoya informed.

"Todo, when we reach her, I want to question her about this girl in black. She helped Kandori escape. She brought us all here and apparently is behind attacks on the school. I've looked outside, there are demons out there. I believe this girl and Kandori have everything to do with it.

Naoya nodded to Kei, assumingly. "I'm ready for some answer too."

They entered the library. Tsutomu, sporting his devil, pentagram-engraved mask, was standing by a black stone gate, shaped like a slab of concrete, chiseled to be a stone tablet. There were three small ovular indentation in the floor each on the point of a single triangle etched in. Tsutomu's hand was under his chin, pondering the gate, not noticing their arrival.

Yosuke, a six foot tall young man, wearing the St. Hermelin uniform, with clean-cut blue hair was sprawled against a bookshelf. His arms were bandaged with gauze, a Band-Aid was on the bridge of his nose and a sutured cut was on the rim of his forehead. Maki was with him.

"Naoya? Is it really you?" He said, disgruntled. "I didn't think I see people from the original world here."

"You're Yosuke Naito, right?" Masao asked. "The guy who went missing with Chisato Kasai, right?"

"Yeah, that's me Masao. About two months ago me and Chisato…" The realized hit him. "She and I wondered into this world, I'm from the same place you are!"

Kei's eyes broaden again. "You said "this world." Then this isn't the past, but another dimension, or another world, yes?"

"Yeah, I thought it was the past too, at first. Everything here is exactly the same as it was a year ago. Some things are weird, though. The police station turned into a forest and the hospital is on the other side of town and now it's a castle. And Maki there was just like you see her. Yeah…it was practically a paradise…until last month."

"A parallel world…The many worlds theory where countless worlds exist."

"_Wow, Kei_." Yukino regarded, impressed with his vast knowledge as always. "_He nailed the situation dead-on. So, we are really in a another world._"

"Really?" Masao exclaimed. "We all though you and Chisato eloped, but you were in another world? I want to say that's completely nuts, but then again we're in the same boat."

"It's hard to believe, Masao," Kei stated. "but it isn't out of the question for the Deva System."

Yosuke spoke up. "Yeah, I can see that kinda, though I honestly don't know what you're talking about. I didn't think you bring back this world's Maki."

Masao's jaw dropped. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! You're saying Maki is Maki, but not the one we know?"

"I could have told you that, Mark." Naoya said seriously and sternly.

"I'm sorry!" Maki blurted. "I wasn't trying to lie! I just wasn't sure until I got back here. I went through the portal Chisato and Yosuke came in through to your world. I never even thought there was another world, let alone that I'd go over to it."

Kei gave an accomplished aha. "I see. No wonder you words and actions were amiss."

"I wanted to go after the girl in black. She was causing problems here."

"Oh, man." Maki slapped his face. "That means the original Maki is still somewhere in that hospital. Couldn't you have at least said something, uh….Maki?" Masao looked hurt, his eyes sagging sorrow obviously present.

"I'm sorry, Masao-kun. I really am, but if I did mention it, would you have believed me? I just thought, maybe if I helped you beat Kandori, both worlds would go back to normal. That's why I figured I wait until it was all over to tell you."

"So, where's Chisato in all this?" Naoya asked curious.

"Dammit!" Yosuke punched the floor. "The girl took her and sprung demons on the city and started attacking the school. Shit!" Yosuke cursed at the shifting of the building, the girl's sickly sour tone voiced reaching everyone's ears. "Ahahahaha! I'm gonna bring down this dumb school for sure this time! I took away the exits! Now no one can escape! Ahahahaha!"

"There's no mistaking that voice. It's the girl." Yosuke informed. "Did she say she removed the exits? If the demons show up now, we'll be slaughtered! Dammit I gotta go!" Yosuke tried to stand, but fell back down.

"Wait, Yosuke! Don't strain yourself! You tried fighting her and this is what happened." She turned to her fellow Persona Users. "Please, everyone…give me a hand. We have to do something!"

Masao shut his eyes. "I'm not sure what's goin' on here, but at this rate, we can't go outside. Let's do this, Nao!" Masao eye's shot open, a half grin on his face, axe brandished in his hand, ready for battle.

Naoya touched his earring, drawing his katana. "_I don't know if I can. Last time with Takeda, I lost control, but I have to lead them. I'll just refrain from using my Persona._" Naoya turned his head to Masao his own half-grin, faked. "Let go!"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

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><p>LOTS OF EXPLANATION TO SINK IN! KINDA RUSHED! KINDA ABRUPT! I KNOW! It couldn't be helped. I honestly couldn't build to it better than I all ready have. The reason this is too days late is primarily because I wasn't really pleased with how abrupt the transition between the two world was secondarily it was because I was catching up on One Piece and playing P2: Innocent Sin. I'm going to be taking a break, because I want to write a little teaser for the pseudo-sequel you could say for this. In the time it took to write this chapter I've planned the entire rest of P: BYTM out, so all at least have the scenes totally set, now I just have to write em' up. Either way, I hope you enjoyed Chapter 9 of Persona: Be Your True Mind, the end of S.E.B.E.C. Arc and I'll see you next time in the start of the Ideal World Arc, Chapter 10: Aki.<p> 


	10. Chapter 10: Aki

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything_

Author's Note: I usually reply to reviews in Private Messages so if you have an asked question or etc, check your inbox to see if I replied for it. I only don't do it in the introductions anymore, because my replies may be regarding spoilers. P.S. So, incase RaidEye or Blazehawkins might have been waiting for my response to any questions they asked in a introduction, I hope you saw the P.M.s in your inbox, because I answered them in the messages.

Note: Late on update for several reasons. A: Arkham City, nough said. B: I didn't have power for nearly a week. C: Writer's block sucks. D: Honestly, I wanted to take a break considering I been working some-what nonstop on this since the start.

The start of the second story arc of three. The longest arc out of all three known as the Ideal World Arc. You'll understand the meaning of the ideal world in due time. This arc ranges between Chapter 10 through Chapter 24, fourteen chapters total. For the record, this is my favorite part of the game where the action and story is extremely picked up and elaborated on. Since I enjoy the section in the other world so much, I want to promise to novelize the events in the game as awesome as possible and as well as integrate my own flare into the story, which I've all ready planned out, I mean our heroes still have the rest of the demon quartet to face as well as many more demonic and angelic obstacles to face. With that aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind Chapter 10.

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><p><em>Chapter Ten: Aki<em>

Reiji swallowed down three capsules as he recovered from the crash-landing inside the classroom. The wounds inflicted by Kandori were stitching themselves up as well as his jacket.

"_These meds those demons dropped really do the trick. You'd think if they drop shit like this, they'd use it on themselves. Any ways,_" Reiji groaned rising up, knocking over several desks around him in the process.

He was in a empty classroom. The only source of light was the beaming rays of the sun from the windows. Reiji shouldered his assault rifle.

"_God damn, I shoulda just shot the bastard in the heart! I can't believe I was stupid enough to let him cow me into this shit! I don't even know where the hell I am. It's looks like the school, but…_" Reiji looked down out the window. "_The courtyard's down there, the gates are chained shut. Who the hell's sitting on the monument stone? A little brat in a black dress? When did this shit-hole school start excepting first graders?_"

A metal crashing sound passed through Reiji's ears. "_That came from outside. In the courtyard, the front doors were slammed open. It's those assholes again!_" Reiji gritted his teeth, clenching his fist. "_They're in the same hole I am! Fucking great, now I might end of spending eternity in this place with a bunch of chumps! I'm getting out of here! Before I kill Kandori, I'll force him to get me out of this mess. Would help if I knew exactly where I was?_"

Reiji turned away from the window.

"ERUSAER TSYUMMON!"

He snapped his head back. "_What the hell are they doing?_"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Busting through the front doors of the school, Maki in the lead, the Persona Users reached the courtyard. They had managed to protect the students from the demons infested in the school on the way down to the ground level. The emergency exits and windows were indeed sealed shut by unbreakable chains. Maki assumed that the girl's voice was coming from the courtyard. That's where she usually caused her mischief.

Naoya kept abreast to Maki, there shoes clacking on the cobblestone path. The girl in black, twiddled her thumps, tapping her heel on the monument stone erected in the middle of the courtyard. "Heeeey!" She shrieked, in a high pitch voice. "You're the ones who were making trouble for my Daddy!" The brunette slid off the top of the six foot tall rock and landing gracefully on her feet.

Maki scowled. "You better fix the school, or I'll spank you 'till your butt's twice as big!" Maki commanded, in a genuinely gruff tone.

"No way, Jose! I don't listen to anybody but my Daddy! Try and stop me, flatty!"

Maki's face drained of color. "Flat-?" It flared up with red. "Oh, that does it! What a little brat!"

Masao turned toward her. "Hey, cool it, Maki. She's just a kid. You gotta have patience with a-"

"Shuddup, monkey boy! Ook ook, eek, eek, it's a monkey!"

Masao gritted his teeth, glaring right at the girl. "What did you call me, you spoiled brat?"

Naoya's sweat dropped. "What happened to being patient, Mark?" He sighed.

"Calm down, monkey!" Kei ordered, taking charge yet again.

"Nanjo, you jerk!" Masao snapped. "You're next!"

"Geez, won't you shut up?" The girl exclaimed, ceasing her monkey imitation. "Now would be a good time…for you to die here!" She thrust her finger to the sky. "ERUSAER TSYMMOM! Come to Aki, Tesso!"

A light started to swirl.

Everyone took a fighting stance. "What the hell is she doing now?" Yukino asked to no one in particular, readying her Ithaca, razorblades in her other hand.

"Whatever it is, be prepared, everyone!" Naoya said.

Eriko nodded, unsheathing her rapier. "Yes, brave leader."

Ayase absentmindedly examined her handgun as the light brightened. Brown was panicking, trying to decide between his spear or TMP.

Kei and Masao stood by each other, rifle sighted in Kei's hand, shotgun cocked in Masao's.

Naoya nervously aimed his MP5 forward, noticing Maki knocking an arrow and pointing the shot at the blotch of conjuring light cloaking the girl, now known as Aki. "_Here it comes! Hope we can win without my Persona_."

The light expanding, creating a animal shaped mechanical beast. The creation itself looked like a wind-up mouse toy, except heavily and densely armored and the wind-up key replaced with a tri-barrel Gatling gun mounted on the back. The head of the beast was a cartoon mouse face painted over the orange metal. Tesso appeared to be an over-sized mechanized rat. (A/N: No Scott McKneil here! Extra points to who knows what I'm referring too)

"Tesso, get em!"

"Sgweaak! Tesso!" The voice of the machine was like a parrot.

Masao raised an eyebrow. "What the hell is this thing?"

Maki titled her head, her lips spread in a half-smile. "Awww...it's adorable!"

"Maki, you realized that things has a chain gun on it's back!" Naoya exclaimed.

The gun rapidly rotated, firing off it's first twenty rounds directly at Maki. She gawked and Naoya fiercely pulled her aside and chucked her into Masao's arm, the bullets digging deep into the earth, right through the cobble stone.

"Take it seriously or pay the price!" Kei scolded, observing it from his scope. "_The girl is using the rodent as a shield._"

Aki was casually kicking a stone near the monument stone as Tesso continued to squawk.

"Todo, the robot is a wall to protect the girl." Kei informed. "We disassemble the unsightly machine and we can get straight to her. What's our course of action? I suggest you not take to long, because if my timing is correct, it'll open fire in another thirty seconds."

Naoya eyed Tesso, the tri-barrel was rotating. "Skirt the sides! Unload into the feet! Immobilize it as soon as you can! If bullets don't work, strike it with you weapon! Your weapon doesn't work, summon your Persona!"

Naoya, Masao, Maki, and Eriko rushed to the right of the rat as Kei, Ayase, Brown, and Yukino took the left. The Gatling gun had unloaded it's second barrage of bullets, tearing up the path further.

Naoya aimed his machinegun low at the feet of the steel beast, which were actually tank treads decorative with mechanical mouse paws. "_First time firing this thing! Hope it's not my last_!" Naoya pulled the trigger, spraying the back-right tread with high velocity fire.

Masao joined him with his buckshot, the spread and rapid-fire bombarding the foot, and tearing it up to a disheveled wreck.

Tesso squawked loudly.

"How'd you like that?" Masao mockingly shouted.

The mounted gun proceeded to alter it's angle, turning to face the right side.

Masao's earnest face displayed a statement. A statement only described as "OH SHIT!"

"Masao, you're an idiot!" Kei yelled, firing his rifle and denting a painted eye on the head. Kei fiddled with the bolt-action as the gun started to spin, but turn to face Kei.

"Strike out it's front leg, while it's aimed at us!" Kei ordered.

Brown freaked out. "Your deliberately putting us in danger, Nanjo! YOU ASSHO-" Yukino and Kei tackled Brown's agape mouth to the stone floor, the roaring bullets barely missing them. Ayase leisurely stood over them, somewhat oblivious to the danger.

"Is that, like, all this thing can do?" She asked to no-one in particular, lashing it gently with her whip.

Naoya nodded briskly. "Eriko, Maki! Fire on the front leg! Me and Mark are gonna give it more targets to shoot at!"

"Huh?" Masao didn't even have a chance to raise his eyebrow or a raise an objection as Naoya dragged him back in front of the rat's now damaged face.

Naoya fired into the body as he brought Masao forward, the bullets not as damaging. He let the MP5 go, the strap straining across his chest as the weight of the machinegun fell. He unsheathed his katana stopping at their destination.

Naoya starred down the "scarred" face of Tesso, Masao loading more shells into his Remington and the Gatling gun circling to him.

Maki hesitantly fired her Browning at the front foot, her reluctantly index finger becoming sore with each pull. Eriko skillfully aimed with the scope. Her father taught her how to hunt with a rifle well. She knew how to handle it properly. She fired three shots, each leaving a deep pore in the thick tread as Maki's peppering of 9mm bullets severed the rest and destroyed the mouse paw.

Brown unloaded his TMP into the back left foot as directed by Kei. "_Jesus, giant robot rats with chain guns! What'll this world think of next? Huge-ass monkeys with laser bananas!_"

Yukino added Brown by tactically unloading and reloading her Ithaca and swiftly slashing the opposite side of Tesso with her razorblades, leaving wearing gashes in the steel. "_Keep digging the blades in the same spot! It'll be progressive if I keep it up! Shit the barrel is spinning!_"

Kei slammed his broadsword home into the front right leg, Ayase firing her VP70 as instructed. "_Staying with Masao Inaba for so long has to have cause injury to my brain. I asked Uesugi to do an important task and Ayase to aid me with gunfire. Surely, I've lost my mind._" He hit the leg again, causing a heavy break in the limb. "_The thirty seconds is up. What's Todo doing?_"

Naoya kept himself locked with Tesso, the tri-barrel aimed directly at him.

"Nao you gotta move!" Masao exclaimed, jogging to the right. "It's gonna fire on us!"

Naoya yelled out as he rushed Tesso. His katana steadied and vertically angled in front of him. "_What am I doing? I'm charging a Gatling gun wielding rat!_"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Reiji watched the battle unfold from the window. "_These guys are useless. They aren't even fighting with their Personas and that punk from before is setting himself to be offed. He's running at a high-powered gun that could destroy him in seconds and is ready to fire._"

Reiji turned away. "_I don't have time to watch a dick-headed fool run to his death. Though that punk did piss me off._ _No one talks shit to me and gets away scot-free._"

"ZGWEAAAAK!"

"_What now?_!" Reiji turned back to the window.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Naoya threw his weight backwards, slamming his back on cobblestone. Using his momentum he slid his entire body across the path, the bullets whistling pasts his hair. He thrust the katana above, stabbing cleanly threw Tesso's head.

"ZGWEAAAAK!" Tesso squawked in pain.

"Nao-kun!"

"Todo!"

"Leader!"

"Quit gawking! Break the damn thing down!"

The mouse machine was indeed nearly crumbled. Each leg was wrecked and bending inward, the torso slouching, the entire structure near collapse without any support.

Kei swiped his hand to the right. "My mov-" Glass shards rained on them. A window had been broken. A gray blur was falling from the second floor. The figure steadily fired an M4 Carbine into the Tesso's back.

Naoya's eyes broaden. "_Reiji…and shit he's gonna drop right on the thing!_" Naoya struggled, pulling his sword from the beast's sparking head and scrambling out from under it just as Reiji crashed his feet and all his weight on Tesso, crushing the legs inward and totally under.

Reiji's faced the sun, the M4 resting on his shoulder. He licked his lips. "I'll clean up! If you assholes don't mind!" Reiji jumped on and compressed the damaged head like a tin can, waltzing off the mess of ruptured steel.

He threw an uppercut in the air. A scarlet mist wrapped around his form. "Hell yeah! Bres!"

Emerging from the scarlet mist was a armored warrior standing six feet tall. An deep purple armet dressed with long slicked back devil-like horns surrounded the head, the slit in the visor only showing pitch darkness. Faulds of a crimson red protecting the breast and back, but the armor tails for the back of hips were the same deep purple and extended sharp-edged similar to the shape of daggers. Deep purple spaulders and gauntlets crafted with rising wave-like creases covered the shoulders and arms up to the elbow. Matching greaves sporting the same color and design armored the legs up to below the knees. The unprotected portion of the bodies, the forearms and the knees were in a crimson read as the torso was. Bres' right hand itself was a bastard sword, the sword forged or permanently stained with scarlet.

The Persona of the Devil Arcana put it's legs together in a proper stance, raising the blade hand up to his helm.

"MUDO!" Reiji ordered pointing to Tesso.

Bres slashed the air instantly. Characters and kanji strewn about in a meticulous ring of inky black energy circled the rodent, a large purple stylized diamond in the center. A pressure erupted upward and flowed downward smashing against the machine from both angles with incredible power. A eerie cackle and scrapping filling everyone's ears as the symbols constricted smaller and smaller on the target until eventually the mass was gobbled up in a jaw of darkness, completely gone in thin air, no where to be seen, removed from existence and sentenced to Hell.

Reiji grinned, showing off his canine's. "That's how you kill shit!"

Aki stomped her feet, pouting. "HEY! Grr…I'm gonna tell my Daddy on you! Daddy's real strong! You guys won't stand a chance!" She raised her finger in the air.

Maki dropped her weapon and ran at her. "Hold it right there!"

In a flash of white Aki vanished.

Maki pouted herself, stomping her own feet. "Aww! She got away again!"

"_Maki and this Aki are similar._" Kei rolled his eyes. "…Who is that girl…?" He asked himself, as the chains on the gate cracked and shattered.

"A better question and where did you come from?" Yukino stated, pointing at Reiji.

"Second floor, bitch. Shouldn't be that hard to comprehend." Reiji replied.

Yukino gritted her teeth. "_I'll beat that smile off his fast._" She was still irritated at the fact that an hour ago, he pointed the M4 at her head.

Naoya glared daggers at Reiji's back, a feeling of distress and anger creeping up his spine. The overly aggressive nature complete with unwarranted anger started to consume him. He felt like he was losing himself, his mind. He wasn't himself again.

Nao rubbed his head. "_I feel like I'm going to black out again, but I didn't even use my Persona. Why do I feel like I'm losing my grip on my mind? The questions just keep flowing and the conflicts keep occurring and now Reiji is here, a huge wrench in the situation. Is he the reason why I'm feeling different, like I'm not myself. Back in the S.E.B.E.C. Building I felt the same way. A person of a different mind set, totally different and I don't understand why. There has to be a reason. It has to be due to the Persona. It has to be. There has to be something about it that alters my personality. Philemon and Igor haven't told us everything. I can't just tell, but I can feel, I know for a damn fact, they're holding out on something. If that's the case though, why hid it from us and why is it only effecting me…unless…Reiji is like it too…maybe his personality is altered by his Persona, maybe that's why I'm feeling the change, because he's here._ _His summoning was red, like Kandori's and Takeda's, but ours are blue. Does that have something do with it? Is the color represented of ourselves or is it due to our actions or is it both?_"

"Is everyone okay?" A winded voice exclaimed. Yosuke had burst through the doors.

Maki immediately moved to side as everyone crowded around him, Reiji hanging in the back. "Yosuke! Is everything all right?"

"Yeah! The school's back to normal, thanks to you guys."

Masao rubbed his index finger under his nose. "Don't worry about it. It was nothin'."

Yukino jabbed him in the rib with her elbow. "You barely did anything." She hissed.

"I really can't thank you guys enough. By the way…Tsutomu wants to meet you guys. Would you mind coming with me back to the library?"

Kei noticed Naoya in a long thought. He decided to ask the question. "Why?"

"Tsutomu helped me out since I came here. He actually believed me. He's investigating the two worlds…maybe's he figured something out by now."

"Are you seriously gonna waste your time on this?" Reiji interjected. "If I'm understanding this guy, who looks like hammered shit, right…we're in another world. From the looks of things another Mikage. You don't need a annoying dumb-ass like the Devil-Boy to tell you how to get out of her. I know the answer all ready, find Kandori and force him to send us back. I'd figured coming down to help you idiots would've been worth my time. Clearly not. I'm out of here!"

"Kido, hold on!" Kei commanded.

Reiji stopped his strut to the gate, the assault rifle still rested firmly on his shoulder. "What do you want, four-eyes?"

"How to do you think you fare against Kandori by yourself? I witnessed what happened last time you tried to face him. He baited you into throwing caution to the wind and trying to strike him head-on."

"That bastard won't play me again!" Reiji raised his clenched fist up. "I'll kill him in a single second."

"Kido, Kandori wished to be here, that girl, Aki, took him here along with us. He wanted to come to this other world for his own reasons. You cannot surely believe that he's going to let you storm his new fortress, whatever and wherever it may be, as easy as last time. You'll need assistance and we share a common goal."

Reiji paused for a moment, the rifle dropping by his hip. "Feh, all right, I be part of your little group." He walked with Kei to the rest of the group, who were following behind a limping Yosuke.

"Man, Reiji! You look so uptight. You gotta take it easy, y'know?" Masao commented, tucking away his weapons in his backpack.

Reiji's features were blank. "…Leave me alone…"

"Whatever you say, man."

Reiji narrowed his eyes. "_Why did I agree to be a part of this? This band of morons consists of a bimbo, an airhead, a rich nerd, a shemale, a lying worm, a yellow hat wearing stoner by the sound of it, a popular bitch, and a snot-nosed punk. Four-eyes did have a point though. Kandori will see me coming a mile away. They at least can help me get at the bastard, but after this talk with Devil Boy, we're gonna have a chat about whose the fuckin' leader around here._"

Masao stuffed his hands in his pocket. "_This Reiji jerk sure acts strange around people. Most of the time he clams-up, but other times he's shooting his mouth off. He's kinda been acting like Nao, well Nao since we played Persona._"

Kei kept to Yukino's right, aiding her in lifting the ammo bag and distribute more ammunition to everyone. "_I succeeded in having Kido join us, but…that girl…she referred to Kandori as her father. Is she really his child? This is the first I've heard of him having a daughter._"

Brown accepted a fresh clip for his TMP after sticking it in his pants. "_Sure, let's just shrug off the attack from the armed robotic mouse. No problem and why don't we bring in the guy who held one of us at gunpoint, I'm sure that's good for us. You know, I'm starting to think I'm the biggest idiot on the planet for even willingly being in this. There isn't a dime in this for me even if there is what are the chances that this worlds currency is the same as ours and that's only IF we hit the mother-load which I doubt we will._" A light bulb turned-on in Brown's brain. "_Unless…I document this whole story as an article for the newspaper or T.V. show or write a fantasy novel entitled How Hidehiko Uesugi Saved Mikage? It'll sell like hotcakes in any form of media. God, I'm brilliant. I can turn it around every time as long as it's to land cash in my pocket._" Brown rubbed his palms vigorously together, chuckling a bit to himself at his own brilliance.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"You're the newcomers. Yosuke told me about. It seems you're having a unique experience…I'm rather jealous." The word Tsutomu spoke were annunciated and sane.

"Are you really, Tsutomu?" Masao questioned. "Dude, he's talking like a normal persona!"

"Hm…the me on the other side must be an odd duck, indeed. I'd like to meet him. Hmm, then visitors, let us get down to business."

Kei spoke up. "We heard your investigating the two worlds. What are your thoughts thus far?"

"The things in this world seem unrelated,…but they are all connected by the string of fate. The same holds true for the black door that suddenly appeared." Tsutomu flung his hand at said object behind him.

Maki eyed the door, expressing discomfort. "_That door…I don't like it. It feels…_"

"Only those who can draw on that strength may learn the truth. Unfortunately, that does not seem to be my role."

Kei nodded. "Or coming here was inevitable. Which means…it's on us to solve everything."

Naoya sighed, playing with his earring. "_Sure, Kei, answer it with fate and destiny, that's the easiest way._"

Tsutomu coughed through his mask. "I don't know who spun the thread, but that's a helpful way to think of it. Now, name the man you pursue who holds the strings end."

"Takahisa…Kandori," Maki announced.

Reiji growled.

"Hm. Exactly the name I expected. In truth, I knew beforehand that these incidents would occur…thanks to the prophecy of a certain monkey-suited gentlemen at the shrine."

Naoya face palmed. "_You gotta be shittin' me._"

"Monkey-suited?" Masao repeated. "There's nothing gentle about monkeys!" He blurted.

"Will someone quiet that ape up?" Kei snapped.

"Your one to talk, bib boy!" Masao countered.

"Shut up and let Tsutomu explain, Masao." Yukino scolded.

"Yes, I would like to hear about this mysterious gentlemen as well." Eriko added.

"Like, can the freak hurry it up. I'm, like, starving."

Reiji faced the wall. "What a bunch of children." He said under his breath. "_They have no idea of the gravity of the situation. I may come off as a foul-mouthed little bastard, because partly I am, but I know when to take shit seriously._"

Maki snapped her fingers. "Hey, Tsutomu…this guy…? Did he wear a mask?"

"Y-yes…He said his name was Philemon, but…" Tsutomu paused.

Naoya's eyes shot open. "_Philemon!_"

The Devil Boy continued. "should we do something about them?" Tsutomu pointed a shaking finger at Kei and Masao in a heated argument.

"Oh, it's fine. Just ignore them, they're always like that!" Maki looked at Naoya. "Nao-kun, let's try our luck at the Alaya Shrine. I've met that man before too. Maybe he knows where Kandori is!"

Naoya checked his gun. "_Good luck getting a direct answer out of him._"

Yosuke, leaning on the wall of for support. "The Alaya Shrine is right where it is in our world. Find a way home and…" Yosuke paused in silence for a moment. "If you see Chisato, save her for me I'm begging you." He sounded desperate due to his disheveled and injured state.

"Don't worry Yosuke. We'll save Chisato from that brat and find us a way home. Right, Nao-kun?" Maki asked with resolve.

"If we see her Yosuke," Naoya let go of his gun and placed his grip firmly on his sword. "We'll send her your way. You stay here and rest."

Kei, who finished his argument with Masao hmphed. "Let us leave then, Todo, to the Alaya Shrine."

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

At the front gate, everyone was prepared to exit onto the new streets, not sure if they were the same streets they knew back home or something completely different than before. Naoya was leading the group, explaining the formation they're would move in to reach the shrine.

"Kei, Maki you're in the middle. Masao, Yukino, you're hanging back. Ayase, Brown, I want you two to keep on a side. Eriko, Reiji, and I are taking the front." Naoya explained, pointing to the specific directions.

Reiji approached Naoya, his chain casting that subtle jangle and his shoes' taps on the concrete, grabbing Naoya's attention. He towered over the Ebony-haired boy, looking down on him with his weapon dangling from the carrying strap behind him. His eyes were drilling into Naoya. Naoya kept his composure, gulping, trying to maintain eye contact.

Reiji spoke first. "Well, if I'm joining your puny brigade, I'm leading the pact." Everyone else stopped their shuffling around into formation. "I watched your performance against that rat and it wasn't impressive. If that's the kinda strategies this punk's leadership displays, then I'm taking over!"

Naoya scowled, opening his mouth, but Masao spoke first. "Like he-"

Naoya cut him off, a scathing edge to his exclamation, "Like hell you are!"

Reiji half-smiled. "Didn't we already have this dance back at the S.E.B.E.C. Building?"

Naoya's fingers touched the hilt of his sheathed katana. "It hasn't even started!"

Reiji grinned even farther, wagging his finger to his right cheek. "Give me your best shot then punk! I dare ya! Make my d-" To everyone's surprise Naoya planted a burly jab to Reiji's cheek, sending him flailing backwards to the ground.

"If it's a fight you want, IT'S A FIGHT YOUR GONNA GET!" Naoya's hand darted across his face, Reiji recovering, a scarlet mist swallowing him up.

"Bring it on!" Reiji swung an uppercut in the air, the similar scarlet mist blanketed him as well. "HELL YEAH!"

"HERE IT GOES!"

"PERSONA!"

A powerful wave of scarlet energy pushed everyone else back as Seimen Kongo and Bres materialized and clashed. Seimen Kongo screeched in rage as the aura of red rose higher and spread farther. The Persona gripped Bres' sword arm and precede to plant kicks to his torso.

Reiji rushed Naoya chucking his gun away, feeling the pain of Seimen Kongo's blows onto his Persona. Naoya threw his MP5 aside in favor of his katana. Reiji connected a swift right cross to Naoya's face as pay pack for the previous shot, but Naoya retaliated with a mad stroke that sliced Reiji deep across his bare chest at the close quarters. Reiji shouted and landed three jabs to his opponent's ribs.

Masao attempted to rush in, but the scarlet aura was pushing him backwards with an invisible force. "What the hell? Why can't I get through?"

Kei scoffed. "What in the seven hells are they doing?"

"Yeah, like, why are they fighting?" Ayase wondered, watching as Naoya and Reiji traded blows and strokes like they were experts in closer quarters combat.

"This isn't like him at all?" Eriko hissed, her handing covering her mouth as Seimen Kongo grabbed at Bres' helmet and slammed his head on his knee.

Reiji cringed at the blow his Persona received, lowering his guard for Naoya to slash him again, following up with a stabbing kick to the stomach, that hurled him father backwards. Reiji countered with a swift strike to Naoya's knee with his leg. The knee pulled his leg inward, causing Naoya to hunch. Reiji taking his opportunity sent him on his back with a sky-high uppercut under the jaw.

Bres shoved Seimen Kongo back. "Bres, TWIN SLASH!" Bres readied his sword arm and hit Seimen Kongo with two consecutive slices.

Naoya raised his head, attempting to regain his standing. "Seimen Kongo, SPIN KICK!"

His Persona returned the attack with his rapid spin kick to the side of Bres' head, staggering the Persona and his user. At Reiji's disorientation from the kick, Naoya returned to his feet and swung a wild stroke that barely knicked Reiji's swaying figure. Reiji shifted to the right out of the way and taking advantage of Naoya in closer range with his upper body hunched forward, he thrusts his knee firmly to his stomach, sending him hunching forward for his neck to receive the follow-up elbow drop that sent Naoya to dirt again.

Maki looked on, her bangs covering her eyes, whimpering slightly. "Masao-kun stop them please! Nao-kun isn't like himself anymore! He's like he was in S.E.B.E.C. during the fight with Takeda!" She pleaded.

Masao shoulder barged the field, sweat matting his brow. Yukino and Kei were also trying to aid him in breaking up the squabble as Kei put it. Masao banged his head on the barrier to no effect. "GODDAMN IT!" He hit it again. "_Nao, dude, what are you doing? You wouldn't do this at all! Fuckin' come on! DAMN IT! BREAK THROUGH!_"

Reiji pulled Naoya up by his collar. "Funny, isn't it?" One punch to the stomach. Naoya yelled in pain. "Our Personas are the vice versa of our respective selves!" A second punch to the stomach and another yelp of pain. "I use my fists and feet, your Persona use his fist and feet!" A third blow to the gut. "My Persona uses a sword and you use a sword!" Reiji let Naoya free from his grasped and connected a fourth jab, this one to his face.

Seimen Kongo bellowed a battle cry at the pain. Bres took the instance and ran his arm through. Naoya screamed in anguish, the wound appearing on his own arm.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Reiji stomped on the arm, licking the blood from his fingers. "AAAAAAAAH!" Reiji stomped again.

Eriko looked on in horror. "_Naoya's screams are agonizing! We have to stop this! At this rate, one of them can be seriously injured or killed! What's wrong with them? Why are they fighting? This isn't my Nao at all!_"

Kei swung his broadsword, but the weight of his swing was repulsed by the aura. "_This barrier is obnoxious! Is this what happens when two Persona Users fight and if your Persona is wounded and struck, you too take on the damage. This is enthralling but at the same time 100% childish! There are many ways to settle a dispute, but fighting it out with our Personas is the easiest way to screw us over! By exhausting their spiritual power now, they won't be able to invoke their Personas later!_"

Naoya gritted his teeth to bare Reiji's stomping. "SEIMEN KONGO, GARULA!"

Seimen Kongo roared, punching the air down on his User and Reiji, firing a spiral of strong wind. The Garu Skill slashed Reiji from all-directions, tearing into his skin and ripping his jacket.

Naoya yelled out, pulling his stabbed arm up with all his force to topple Reiji off him. "SEIMEN KONGO!"

Reiji scrambled to his feet, jumping backwards. "BRES!"

"GARULA!"

"MUDO!"

"NO!" Maki screamed, sadness welling in her eyes and pouring down her rosy cheeks. "STOP!"

Seimen Kongo shot off a powerful eddy of wind straight to the firmly standing Reiji. Bres swung his sword to the right, throwing his real hand out, casting off the characters and circle of purple darkness at Naoya, whose determinately stood despite a badly bleeding wound. He kept his resolve and starred down the Death Skill with a maniac's eyes.

Reiji shared the same eyes with a conceited grin, showcasing his sharp canines even more. "_I'VE WON YOU SON OF A BITCH! I'VE WON!_" BAM! Reiji felt the full attack of the Garula Skill, the existing cuts pulling apart and more opening, blood escaping from each slit, all the while he was laughing, living up his alleged victory as he dropped to his knees, the darkness taking over his vision, his senses fading, and his consciousness leaving him as he collapsed into a fatigued slumber.

Naoya's hair whipped backwards as the kanji and entrapping circle flew through him, phasing through his being, not touching an inch or fully forming. The Skill had missed, Naoya had won, yet his legs weakened, the ferocity leaving his irises, the katana slipped from his fingers, laying to the beaten earth. The vast red dimmed, the air clearing, the mist dissipating. He fell forward, his eyes shutting, his nostrils taking in one breath and his mouth exhaling it before he lost consciousness at the rough slam. He'd won.

"NAO-KUN!"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

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><p>Apologize for the supreme delay, but I ended the first major story arc of three and in my opinion that warrants at least a month break. So, apologies to anyone who might've been waiting for this for awhile, but I been consecutively working on nine chapters in a row nonstop I burned myself out so I just needed some chill time to work on other things and plan out more chapters thoroughly. For the record this chapter was supposed to have two other scenes, but for the sake of updating plus the scenes fit better in the next chapter which will be shorter and I love cliffhangers so…Either way, I hope you enjoyed the start of the Ideal World Arc, Chapter 10 of Persona: Be Your True Mind and I'll see you next time for Chapter 11: The Expel Mirror.<p> 


	11. Chapter 11: Expel Mirror

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything_

Just a little response to RaidEye, I'm glad to be back into the swing of things as well, just needed a tiny break to get priorities straight and settled. Thanks for reviewing and with my gears back in motion I'm still dead-set on finishing the novelization and writing my other novelizations.

Chapter 11, all right, we are moving up in the world and trying to get somewhere. I'm hoping this chapter turns out longer than the last one, which was only a little over 7000 words and was a total of 28 pages, but I don't want it to be so long that my writer's block kicks in, but considering how straight forward the majority of the scenes and fights are in this chapter, I'm not too worried, which is good for me and good for you the readers. Since I planned out thoroughly, literally the next six chapters, I think I can put these out at a faster pace, without the quality of the work suffering, but also adding to the improvement. Well, I'll stop blabbering and just introduce the chapter as usual. With that aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind Chapter 11.

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><p><em>Chapter Eleven: The Expel Mirror<em>

"NAO!" Masao bolted to his friend's side, a pool of blood from the open stab wound already forming. He skidded to his knees, grabbing Naoya by the collar and looked at his lifeless face. "Damn it, man! What the hell were you thinking?" Masao heard Maki's choking sobs, seeing Kei and Yukino go to Reiji's sides.

"He's out cold, Nanjo! He's losing a lot of blood!" Masao exclaimed, a frown with gritted teeth spreading at each of Maki's coughs.

"Kido's unconscious as well. The slash marks are deep! He'll bleed out soon as well!" Kei wanted to smack himself. "_How could I allow this to happen?_"

Masao desperate to come up with a thought, noticing everyone else standing idle by as if still taking in the whole fight that went down. "Maki!" He called to the crying brunette.

Her puffy eyes opened. "Masao-kun…" She mumbled.

"Your Persona is the only one with Healing Skills! You have to heal Nao and Reiji!" Masao slipped his fingers to Naoya's neck. "Hurry up, Maki! Nao's pulse is almost gone!" Masao's breathe hitched, holding back his own tears. "_I can't let my best friend die because of some stupid out-of-nowhere fight!_"

Maki hurried to Masao. "I'll try my best, Masao-kun!" She raised her hand to air, beckoning forth the heavens. "Please, help us! Persona!" The blue flickered and faded, evaporated like a mass of heat reducing water to steam.

Masao harshly throttled her shoulders, causing her to flinch at his rough handling, considering she was used to his kinder nature. "Maki, you gotta concentrate! If you panic and don't think straight, it won't come out! Just please, feel me here, in front of you! Feel me standing her, solid, motionless! Concentrate! Close your eyes and concentrate! Please!"

Maki's gasped, Masao's tears were running pass his fake tear markings. She shut her eyes tight. "_For Nao-kun! He's my closest friend! He's practically my brother! I can't let him die! Breath, Maki, breath in and out. Feel Masao-kun's stable hands….feeling the sensation…call forth your façade of protection…a mask you show…Maso the goddesses of protection, the Persona of the Priestess!_" Maki threw her unwavering hand back into the air. "Help me! PERSONA!"

In a burst of velvet blue, the mist took over engulfing the entire courtyard in a vast blue aura even larger than the scarlet barrier that was erected. Maso materialized above Maki's head, the girl's bangs and ribbon now whipping back and forth with the surging blue. Maso folded her hands in prayer, the mask covering her face preventing anyone from seeing her expression, her habit flowing, rippling like undulating waves.

"MASO, MEDIARAMA!" Maki confidently pointed to Naoya and Reiji.

Maso bowed her head, a shower of verdant energy falling over the two, wrapping around them, sewing up their wounds and clothing, closing each gap perfectly as if they were never there. Maso lifted her head the twilight of the sunset, setting behind the school, peeking through the aura.

Maki heard a new word of the distant tongue filling her mind. Maki shifted her direction to Naoya, pointing down on his now healed, but still unconscious body. "RECARM!"

Maso shot her gaze up to the sun, her hands fervently clutching to each other. A golden nimbus surrounded her overpowering the velvet aura and blowing it away with a sudden expansion. Maso's praying hands shook

violently with the golden power coursing through each finger. She arched her back, flinging her hands out, shooting a golden bullet into Naoya, dispersing the expanded nimbus and vanishing in shimmering blue.

Masao caught Maki in his arms, her head resting in the nape of his neck. Her breathing was shallow, her eyes red from crying. She'd managed to do what she needed to, exhausting her spiritual reserves to bring both of them back from the possible brink of death.

The gold energy coursed throughout Naoya, speeding up the healing process to an internal extent. The energy coated his body and pulsed rapidly until it wore off and died away with it's luminous shine, leaving Naoya to regain consciousness. Masao helped him to his feet, keeping Maki nestled close.

"Jesus, what did I do this time?" Naoya saw Reiji collapsed.

"You and Reiji just suddenly started dukin' it out." Masao explained.

"Yes, Todo, and I'd personally like to ask why the sudden outburst to strike, Kido?" Kei questioned hefting Reiji onto his back with the help of Yukino.

"I'd like to know too, brave leader." Eriko quietly spoke, her voice and hands shaking with fright.

Naoya approached Eriko, noticing her tremors. Brown and Ayase stood off to the side. "I'm not sure why? I blacked out again, but this feeling was building, in the back of my brain, a creeping tide consuming my thoughts. I lost control and snapped, before I knew it I punched Reiji in the face."

"That certainly is intriguing, Todo. Maybe Philemon can consult us on this matter." Kei suggested.

"You're personality has changed since yesterday afternoon, Nao." Yukino added.

Ayase cracked her whip in vexation. "Can we, like, go? I'm tired of school!"

Everyone else sighed.

"Maki healed us right?" Naoya innocently asked, noticing her.

"Yep, I'll carry her, Nao, don't worry." Masao said assuring Naoya by moving Maki onto his back, piggy-back style.

"We should be heading to the Alaya Shrine." Kei announced. "The sun is close to setting and if it's a full moon the demons will be restless."

Naoya picked up his strewn away MP5, checking the clip. He jammed it in, hearing the satisfying click. He want to put the past events behind him as best as he could. Eriko came up from behind as he was about to speak. He halted and came close to her ear. "I'm sorry I scared you, Eriko." He whispered, causing her to blush. "Let's start heading out then! Masao I want you and Kei in the middle, Yukino stay in front with me in Eriko! Brown, Ayase pick up the slack, tail Kei and Masao!"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Brown breathed a breath of relief as he let his guard down inside the mask-decorated shrine. Masao and Kei were letting Maki and Reiji to the floor gently. "_Thank God, we made it here in one peace! Some of those demons on the streets were tough and they were bigger and badder than the ones we fought in the other Mikage. The streets were the same too, but the demons were a whole new story. I seriously hope answers are here, because I'm tired of running around with this damn spear!_" Brown leisurely leaned the spear on the wall. "_When is the important stuff gonna happen? If I'm creating a story about this I need more details to juice-up the plot and suspense? I wonder how the critics will react? 'What an amazing, fascinating, and obscure journey of a lone wolf hero of gallant demeanor and process against hell itself to deliver justice to evil, right the wrongs of a madman, and save the world, all selflessly I might add.' It's tantalizing just thinking about it! I wanna sit down and write it right now!_" Brown was nonsensically eager.

Ayase eyed Brown up and down. He was practically drooling in his thought process. She scoffed. "_He's so brain damaged. Like, why are we here? Tsutomu that jerked was yanking our chains. We should've eaten something or brought food from the cafeteria. I'm starving damn it! I would kill for something to eat or at least a break to catch up on my beauty sleep! Sheesh, I can't believe we're in another world, this is stupid. All Naoya had to do was press a button and I could be home, taking a hot bath, wearing clean clothes, eating a nice dinner, and be able to sleep in a warm, comfy bed, instead because I was panicking to point of were I could've had a heart attack or stroke because my asinine condition can't let my body or mental state handle being by myself. OH! MY! GOD! WHY?_"

Yukino pinched her eyelids, dropping the duffel bag. "_Well, Nao and Reiji was a scare, glad we settled it, but I don't think we should casually let it be or subside. We need time to address this issues. Maybe when Philemon feels like showing up we can get to the bottom of this new Naoya persona._"

On cue to Yukino's though, the yellow featureless butterfly appeared, brightening the dank, un-lighten shrine and circling them in laps, bringing them to Philemon's domain once again, the abyss in their betwixt of consciousness and unconsciousness.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Maki awoke, stirred by the gentle hover of her feet to Philemon's platform. She noticed everyone else touching down from the opening in the endless void the plateau was suspended. The masked enigma himself was standing in the center as usual, any emotions on his face covered and blocked away by his mask. "_I feel a little faint._ _We must of made it to the Alaya Shrine, in one piece. I'm so relieved, especially since I was able to save Nao-kun and Reiji._" Maki had taken note of the sullen standing Naoya, completely healed and the now waking Reiji who was basically in the same situation she was in.

"How are you friends?" Philemon asked, his booming voice taking in all of their attention.

Naoya placed a hand on the sheath of his katana, flicking his earring, readying to let loose. "Philemon, what the hell is going on?" He exclaimed.

Philemon stood still.

Kei cleared his throat. "Yes, Philemon, we have a large variety of questions that need answers? For starters, is this place truly a second world?"

Naoya stomped his foot. "_I'm getting sick of Nanjo, overtaking the situation!_" Naoya had a realization. "_It's happening again…and…I…can't control it, first it starts with the thoughts and soon comes the actions. What's gonna happen this time?_"

"This world is a counterfeit of your own. It is this world where Kandori's ambitions lie."

"What's the point of this world? I mean, what ARE Kandori's ambitions." Maki innocently asked.

"And, like, how do we get back?" Ayase pouted.

"_As if he's gonna give us the answer._" Naoya's sword-readied hand violently shook. "_I can't un-tense my muscle!_" The sense of frustration was consuming him.

"If you pursue him, you will eventually discover the nature of this world and how to return to your home world."

"Where's the bastard now, butterfly mask?" Reiji shouted, his fingers curling into tight-clenched fists.

"Ah, Reiji Kido, I am glad you all have finally met." Philemon raised his arms into the air. "Kandori has made his fortress on the east side of town, where he is searching for something. Night has fallen, he hasn't found it. Should he find it tomorrow, there will be no more days for either world. You must stop Kandori."

"On the east side of town?" Eriko repeated.

"But the east side's block by a barrier in our world." Masao stated.

"It is here too." Maki added.

"Look for the Expel Mirror, it will allow you to partially bypass the barrier. The best way is to enter the subway terminal and use it there."

Kei cupped his chin. "Now that that is settled, we have to discuss Todo-"

"All right, Philemon, you have some explaining to do?" Naoya yelled, thrashing forward.

"What do you mean, Naoya?" Philemon asked.

"Don't bullshit me! You know what I mean! These Personas screw with our minds, don't they? They make you a different person, don't they?" Naoya's sudden snap caused silence of his friends. "We've spent these hours doing what you've told us and my mind's been torn apart by all this questions of why? What is really going on?" At each shout, Naoya took a half-step forward, his sword hand grabbing harder and stronger. "What do these Personas truly do? Why us? Why do we have to stop Kandori, Philemon? I want answers!"

"Naoya, I'm sorry, but I cannot-"

"IF YOU WON'T TELL ME I'll FORCE IT OUT OF YOU!" Naoya charged Philemon, viciously swiping out his katana and swung a brawny and speedy slash across Philemon's chest. Naoya felt no contact between his blade and flesh, an immediate disappoint and confusion replaced his weariness and ferocity.

Philemon stood unmoved as Naoya's arm sluggish hung low. "You should know, Naoya, that mortal-crafted weaponry cannot harm a god. Seeing this sudden outburst, I can tell you've discovered the adverse effect of the Persona, therefore I'm allowed to explain."

Naoya grind his teeth. "I don't only want to know the effects, Philemon! I want to know why! Why us?"

Philemon did not speak a word.

"Answer me, goddamn it!"

Philemon folded his arms, letting out a sigh of defeat. "In order for you to understand, I have to, of course, start from the beginning with myself and my competitor. We have a wager, an elaborate game of chess between ourselves. A bet on humanity. He tries to end human life and I am permitted to try and stop it by my own means, hence why you and Kandori have Personas. The difference is I'm not permitted to interact directly with the world, I simply can point or hint in the right direction. My competitor can. He's the driving force behind Kandori's schemes. His piece in the game is Kandori and mine are you."

Naoya sheathed his sword, shaking his head in disbelief. "Are you serious?"

Masao snickered. "Makes about as much sense than anything else that's happened today."

"You have a point, Masao-kun."

Eriko squealed. "Oh, this is exciting! We're part of a game of gods!"

Brown closed his gasping jaw. "_How is she taking this calmly? This dude just explained we're pawns in a game for humanity!_"

"This is preposterous." Kei hissed. He regarding himself as an agnostic man, but truly after hearing Philemon's words, he began to question everything that had taken place in the town of Mikage in the past day, hours, minutes, seconds, trying to find a single point that writes it all off as a dream.

"What's so if we're just the pieces, then like the punk asked, why us, huh?" Reiji asked.

"Why and how I chose you is easier to explain. I can read the strings of events, see the future, I saw each of you, except Reiji, standing before me individually and then all of you standing before me now. I didn't know your names, but I knew your faces and that you all would eventually be here. I started the rumor of the Persona game knowing that it would draw those I saw to play so I could gift them with a fighting chance for their right to live, a Persona."

Before anyone else could process the information, Naoya snapped. "But, why us? Why were we the ones you saw specifically and what do these Personas truly do?"

Philemon gave a light chuckle. "You're still asking why, Naoya? The choice was entirely yours to follow through with the strings of events. The Persona was just a tool for humanity to not only save their town, but the world from my competitor's chaos."

Naoya's fist shook, he faced the floor. "_It wasn't fate, huh? We were just cowed into doing what he wanted us to do. I never would've excepted this damn power if I knew the whole situation!_"

Reiji glanced at Philemon, trying to not make eye contact, but unsure if the man could actually see him. "_I think I know who he's talking about. His competitor. I don't care if I was chosen to do this or not. All I know is that after that WINGED bastard gave me my Persona, I've lost grip of my thoughts, my actions to the point where I seem completely different._"

Philemon turned to the scarred boy. "Reiji you've experienced the same feelings as Naoya, too, haven't you?"

"Yeah," He hissed in response, keeping in the back corner of the group, turning away from the god.

Kei cupped his chin. "Are you going to explain their sudden lapses in personalities and actions, Philemon?" He had partially recovered from the realization of being a piece in a eminent game of gods.

Philemon raised his arms. "Yes, Igor was meant to elaborate on this but the visit was cut short."

Reiji held his arm, feeling the burning gazes of his new companions.

Philemon continued. "Naoya and Reiji are simply swaying in alignment. I originally wanted to explain this to you, but it's very abstract to mortals to comprehend. Everything that interacts with the world of demons, gods, anything spiritual falls into a dogma, a set of principles all who are apart of anything spiritual have to follow. The dogma is related to something we of the demonic and angelic world call alignment. Alignment is your own chose, but determined by your personality, thoughts, and actions, but when you fall into a specific alignment your locked into that way of thinking and acting. Demons align themselves with Chaos, because they wish to feed and kill, this is not to describe every demon. Angels align themselves with Law, because they're obedient, lawful, and overall the opposite of demonic nature, most angels are aligned with Law, but there are demons who are as well."

Eriko raised her hand, afraid to interrupt by speaking out.

"Yes, Eriko?"

"How does this alignment dogma related to Naoya and Reiji…and even us?"

"By being granted the power of Persona, you have been inadvertently forced to be a part of the domain of angels and demons, therefore you are chained to the alignment dogma, meaning your alignment is defined by your thoughts, decisions, actions and also defines you and how you act as I've said. It's an adverse effect that could not be avoided. Reiji and Naoya both probably fell into the Chaos alignment, which explains the recent outbursts. The rest of you I can feel, you've fallen into Law."

Naoya showed signs of understanding. They swiftly disappeared, mocked up with anger. "You're joking, right? You mean all because I doubted myself, or judged whether we should kill Kandori or not, and grew paranoid that I was becoming another me and asking these questions was because of the Persona! BECAUSE I WAS DRIFTING INTO CHAOS, MAKING ME ANGRY AND AGGRESSIVE AND SCORNFUL, AND DERANGED….AND EVIL!"

"Yes, Naoya, I am sorry, but there is no-"

"SHUT UP! I don't care what you have to say anymore! I'M DONE! I refuse to take part of this! If my mind is at stake…if I'm not going to be the real me again, because I'm stuck by my own innocent thoughts, I want nothing at all to do with you, your competitor, or this Persona! I WANT IT GONE!"

"Naoya…I'm sorry again, but…the way to fully dismiss your Persona ability is to grant it to someone who doesn't, yet holds the potential to use it. Currently, there is no one in this counterfeit world that has the potential. You cannot remove it."

"Then, I'm stuck with it! DAMN IT ALL! Forget it, I'm done! I'm sick and tired of being ordered around by you and your enigmatic garble! I refuse to lead this group and I refuse to ever use this Persona again! I'M THROUGH PHILEMON! DONE!

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

The night was cold, silent. Naoya sighed deeply, resting his head against the Alaya Shrine's mask decorated wall. His friends laid on the floor, serenely sleeping. Philemon had sent them back to Naoya's chagrin, and told them to stay the night in the shrine, letting Nao freely choose what to do.

Naoya stroked his earring, letting his eyes wander, his ears kept open. Masao and Maki were laying side by side using Masao's huge backpack as a pillow. Brown was in a slumber, rump in the air, drooling. Ayase was tossing and turning, trying to find a soft spot on the wooden floor. Eriko had let her hair down, letting her straightened locks drape her breast. Kei and Yukino had awkwardly chose to situate themselves in a corner of the room together. They were pushed back-to-back, the duffel bag of ammunition wedged behind them. Reiji slept on the opposite wall to Naoya, the M4 clutched in his hands.

Naoya sighed again. "Screw it…" He whispered to no one in particular. "_I can't sleep. After the screaming, hair-pulling, and the eye-opening crap that we've learned today barely two hours ago._" Naoya left the shrine, deciding to walk. "_With demons here, probably not the greatest idea, I've ever had, but I need to think. My mind needs to be clear._"

Naoya put his hands in his pocket after fixing his katana and machine gun. "_Shit the Sun Mall is way to far and Joy Street is on the other side of this Mikage…which is blocked by a barrier. Damn it. So much for heading to Judgment 1999 to think._"

Naoya kicked a stone, suddenly blinded by a blue light. A floating door had appeared, bathed in the familiar velvet blue light. The doorknob turned on it's own, the hypnotizing operetta music slipping through the cracks. The door swung open and Naoya's mind flew right in.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Igor was shuffling a deck of cards, delighted with the rhythm of the singer, Belladonna, accompanied by the blind pianist Nameless performance of the theme he always requested them to play. One he declared as the theme of the Velvet Room, the Aria of Souls. "They play such entrancing music, do they not, Naoya Todo?"

Naoya's slouched, exhaling a massive sigh for the third time. "Jesus, Igor, what do you want? Didn't you get the memo? I'm done with all this."

Igor placed the deck on his table, resting his arms on his chair. "Yes, Master Philemon has informed me of the situation. So, I have chosen to intervene, because in this wager of gods, I am permitted too."

"Yeah and why's that. Is it an obligation to your master?"

"Personally, no, Naoya Todo. I respect Master Philemon's choices, his choice being to let you decide, I am merely granting you my two cents as it were. Also hoping to talk some sense into you to prevent you from walking the demon infested streets at night with the moon nearly full."

"I make my own decisions, Igor."

"Yes, you have the right to, Naoya Todo. It is your mind and body after all."

"And your master giving me this curse, doesn't echo that in the slightest."

Igor starred at Nao passed his own lengthy nose. "That is were you are mistaken, my guest." Igor held up two gloved fingers. "My Master, explained the rules of alignment, but talked solely on two of them: Chaos and Law." Igor held up a third finger. "In fact there are three total alignments, Naoya Todo."

Naoya's attention was peaked. "Three? Then, what's the third?"

Igor put down his hands in favor of holding up his left and right index finger. "Master Philemon, surely told who normally align themselves with Chaos and Law."

"He said demons align themselves with Chaos and angels with Law. Where are you going with this?"

Igor crunched his left finger. "Chaos Alignment is the lowest alignment, imagine Chaos as a representation of Inferno, Hell." He wagged his right finger like a fluttering wing. "Law Alignment is the highest alignment, imagine Law as a representation of Paradiso, Heaven."

Naoya nodded in comprehension. "Okay, Divine Comedy, good and evil, I'm following I suppose this third alignment falls between them."

"Ah, yes, you are understanding, Naoya Todo. Indeed, the third alignment is set in between Chaos and Law." Igor hooked his fingers together. "The alignment that is mostly taken on by deities, the Neutral Alignment, represented by Purgatorio."

Naoya tilted his head to the side. "Neutral, how does that work and what does it have to do with me? I'm not a god."

"To align yourself with Neutral, Naoya Todo, you must gaze upon your soul and look at the world in both directions of Chaos and Law, beyond the spectrum of good and evil. To be Neutral is to act not for yourself, but for all."

"Look in both directions?" Naoya was confused. "So, if I was to relate this to my situation with the Persona. I'd have to think of everyone, including myself."

"Naoya Todo, the Neutral Alignment is taken on by deities due to their oversight. They are not bias to Chaos and Law, they open themselves to both,…they set their personalities with normality….like the human mind. With this being said, mortals would originally already achieved the perfect balance due their free will and view of reality."

"I kinda understand what your saying. Like how some people weight the affects of their actions against others. Our free will to make what choices we want is what makes us human."

Igor smiled. "I think you have learned what this speech has to do with you, Naoya Todo."

Naoya gained a half-smile, seeing the light as to what Igor was trying to tell him. "My Persona locked me into the rules of alignment and with it locked my free will. I started asking questions, like can I really be cut out to be a leader, do we kill Kandori or not, do I sacrifice the life of a repenting old man to rid Mikage of it's trouble, do I try my hardest to save a dying man or leave him to death. I pushed myself into Chaos struggling with these questions. I felt like I lost my free will, like I had no other choice, but to chose the negative side opposed to what everyone else including myself truly wanted. My mind was being overrun by the effects of the Chaos and Law, good and evil, my grip was slipping and slipping until eventually I fell farther than I could believe, losing control of my mind until I was snapped back to an even or higher level."

"Do you recall any sensation or emotion from the middle level?" Igor question, aiding his guest in reaching his concluding epiphany.

"When I was in the middle? I don't think I was there for long. After Philemon gave me the Persona and we went to the hospital to see Maki, I felt a happiness, a patch of bliss. The happiness…came from being with my friends…knowing they experienced the same thing I did, knowing I wasn't alone."

"You thought of everyone else, yes? Not only your own self. That is the key, Naoya Todo. Remember your free will, remember your friends, see beyond the basic concepts of good and evil, and most importantly be human. I wouldn't know the feeling, so I cannot be the one to give you advice on that." Igor jested.

Naoya laughed a little. It felt nice to laugh after yelling for such a long time. "I think I can feel this Neutral Alignment, all ready?" Naoya stood up straight, the stressfulness apparently completely removed from his being. "Igor can you give a message to Philemon for me."

"Yes, I can, Naoya Todo."

"Tell him…sorry…for taking a swing at him. I was pissed off, fed up with unanswered questions. Tell him, I'll help him. I'll use my Person and lead my friends against Kandori and his competitor, but not for his sake, not for my sake, not just Mikage sake, but for my friends."

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

The morning sun broke through the parting clouds, signaling dawn. The Persona-Users were gathered outside, Naoya standing in front of them, ready to deliver his decision. "All right, guys, I'm-"

Masao gripped both his arm. "You can say you're not going to use your Persona, Nao, you don't want to lead us anymore, all right, but I'm not going to let you stay behind and go off on your on! You're coming with us whether you like it or not, even if I need to knock you out and drag you!" Masao's grit-filled eyes were peering right at Naoya's.

Naoya patted his friend's shoulder. "Don't worry, Mark, I'm not going anywhere."

Maki's and Eriko's were animated. "Really!"

Masao let go of Naoya's arm to let his best friend speak properly. "You know, guys, I been a really jackass and a dumb-ass and overall a giant mess since we had to take on this responsible. I'd like to say I'm sorry for loosing control." Naoya approached Reiji, spotting Yukino and Kei sporting half-smiles, possibly of agreement and Ayase and Brown looking-and-listening on in attentiveness. "Reiji," Naoya offered his hand to the scowling boy. "I hope you can accept my apology for punching your square-in the face and instigated the whole confrontation."

Reiji starkly shook Naoya's hand. "Apology accepted, punk, only because it was partly my fault too. Uh…and…sorry for messing you up with Bres."

"It's in the past. So, let's work together for our common cause and take done Kandori and save our town."

"Agreed!" Reiji replied.

"I take it then you are resuming you role as leader of our rag-tag band once again, Todo?" Kei asked, pushing up his glasses.

Naoya gave him a corny thumps-up, angering Kei. "Can you take this seriously?"

"Hey, Nanjo, chill out! Nao's staying and taking the helm back up, that's all that matters to me!" Mark retorted, giving Naoya a high-five.

"Me too! I'm glad Nao-kun's is staying!" Maki snared the ebony-haired teen in a bone-breaking hug.

"So am I!" Eriko glomped him.

After being released, Naoya was ready to announce formation to move on. "Philemon said we have to find the Expel Mirror and then head to Kandori's fortress on the other side of town through the subway with it. He didn't tell us where it is."

"Oh, Nao," Eriko piped. "The Expel Mirror is on display at the Historical Society in our world! I remember going to see it in the occult and mystical objects section last month! Maybe it's in this world's Historical Society."

"Nice one, Eriko." Naoya complemented. "Maki, is the Historical Society close here."

"It's a three blocks up the street by the clinic."

"To the Historical Society!"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

The Mikage Historical Society was a two storey, two winged building established to display old artifacts, antiques, and antiquities discovered by the founding ancestors and settles of the town. The group of nine managed to reach the destination without expanding to much energy on the demons in their way.

"Okay, let's grab the mirror inside and bolt to the subway." Naoya said, feeling a sudden chill blow through him.

A icy air broke passed each of them, streaming into each other as one front, taking a solid form, of a three-dimensional oval of blue and white. Extending from the oval was four sluggish stomps, lacking opposable digits, a lengthy and bent tail curling and waving as the blue and white energy cleared with the freezing cold sensation. At the shattering away of the coating of energy, a orange-scaled lumpy beast's face roared, sporting a lazy eye, proud jaws, and webbed ears. Each limp were webbed, orange-scaled fins. The tail, also covered in orange-scaled protruded with the rest of the body from a aquamarine-colored shell.

"What the hell is that thing?" Masao exclaimed.

"It appears to resemble…a turtle, but not very well." Kei said.

"Whatever it is it's in our way! Everyone get ready to fight!" Naoya ordered.

The demonic turtle, wetly smacked the cement road. "You are the humans who defeated Bai Hui!" The turtle's voiced was smooth and slick like ice. "How could he lose to such trivial mortals! No matter, because were Bai Hui of the Four Symbols of the Chinese Constellation failed, Gui Xian shall prevail and to think I'd be stuck here guarding this Mirror for nothin'!"

"Eriko, who is this guy?" Naoya asked, unsheathing his katana, now securely fasten horizontally on the back of his waistband.

"Well, if Bai Hui was Byakko, Gui Xian is Genbu." Eriko replied, steadying her rapier while tapping her cheek gently.

"Genbu, that's what the Japanese call me! Enough talk! RAKUKAJA!" A surge of purple aura surrounded Genbu's body.

"Kei, buff us up!" Naoya ordered. "Eriko, weaken him!"

Kei swung his broadsword to his left. "My move! Aizen Myouou! MATAKAJA!" A white aura surrounded all nine of them.

"Magic boosts, isn't such a bad idea!" Genbu yelled. "MATAKAJA!" A white aura surrounded him with the purple. "A little speed wouldn't be bad either! SUKUKAJA!" A green aura merged with the purple and white. "Lastly some more defense! RAKUKAJA!" The purple in the aura intensified.

"He's faster at casting than we are, Todo!" Kei informed as he surrounded everyone with a golden aura, casting a Tarukaja.

In response, Naoya turned to Eriko. She held her rapier by the side of her face, Nike, inward folded wings materialized. "Come, Nike! Rakunda!" Nike unfolded her wings and surrounded Genbu in a purple aura similar to the Rakukaja, but the Rakunda didn't dissipate the purple. "What?" She exclaimed. "It didn't work!"

Genbu had finished casting a Matakaja at the notice of the de-buff. "Of course, little girl! I'm stacking em up! Course can't let you do that yourself! DEKUNDA!" Genbu smacked his feet on the ground and roared, a shockwave of yellow flying through all of them, cracking away their auras brought on by Kei.

"RAKUKAJA!"

"He removed my increases!" Kei stated.

"And is continuing to strengthen himself!" Naoya yelled back. "Everyone open fire! Shoot him while he's casting!"

The deafening sounds of gunfire and metallic clangs were caught in the air as countless casings dropped and bullets connected with Genbu's figure. Each bullet indenting on impact due to the aura and falling leisurely at his webbed, nonexistent toes.

"My shell and magic are my ultimate defense! If this is the best you have, killing Bai Hui was a fluke! Taste my elemental fury! MABUFU!" Genbu unleashed a storm of icicles upon the Persona-Users.

"I can handle this!" Maki threw her hand in the air. "Please, help me, Maso! MABUFU!" Maso materialized from the velvet mist and counterattack Genbu's skill with a replica of her own, canceling each other out.

"RAKUKAJA!"

Brown quivered. "_This dude keeps boosting himself! Wait…maybe those new words I heard after fighting a few demons with my Persona can do something!_" Brown hefted his spear into the air. "Leave it to me, Nemain! ZANMA!" Brown's eloquently dressed, winged Persona emerged a concentrated ball of the Zan energy in between her fingers.

"Brown, that isn't going to do anything!" Naoya scolded as Nemain fired off the Skill. "Shit! Ayase! He uses ice, help out Brown with a fire skill!"

Ayase lazily whipped in front of her folding her arms behind her head. "Like, Persona." Hori appeared dancing with flames gathered in her flourishing hands. "MARAGI!" Hori fired off a dozen small fireballs behind Brown's Zanma.

"Hell, if Brown can us a stronger rendition, I can use my own!" Yukino punched the air, not wanting to be outdone by Brown. "HA! VESTA! FREILA!"

Masao thrust his trusty axe in the air. "I'm with ya, Yukino! Let's do it to it! OGUN! GRYVA!"

The tribal and carroty clothed Personas arrived above their masters. Ogun spun his earthenware spear and stomped the blunt end on the ground as Vesta gathered a bigger and brighter ball of her nuclear energy. At Ogun's hit of the earth, casts down a ball of pressuring gravity the size of Genbu down on the beast itself as Brown's Zanma exploded on the turtle's face and Ayase's fireballs extinguished against his shell and flesh. Vesta followed up with the chain by releasing the energy pent up in her fabric hands, shooting off a burst of the Frei energy that consumed Genbu and created a smoke screen.

The smoke soon began to clear. "Surely that had to at least wound him." Eriko suggested.

"No chance, girl." Reiji spat. "If this guy was sent by Kandori to protect something vital, he ain't goin' that easy."

At Reiji's statement Genbu was revealed, unharmed, causing all, but Reiji, Kei, and Naoya to gasp. "You know I think that last one actually got through! Maybe I should buff my defense some more! RAKUKAJA!"

"Come on! Damn it!" Masao stomped his foot.

Kei grinned and stepped up. Reiji did the same. Kei swung his broadsword to the right, the mist wrapping around him. "There's only one way to bypass his excessive dexterity increases!"

Reiji threw his upper cut. "Kill em' in oneshot!" A scarlet and velvet mist was erupting from underneath Reiji.

"My move!"

"Hell yeah!"

"PERSONA!"

Aizen Myouou and Bres took their appropriate stances whence they came out of the mist.

"HAMA!"

"MUDO!"

Aizen Myouou opened her arms wide as Bres held his sword straight to his helm and slashed. Both bringing out their instant-kill skills. The characters and demonic circle of Mudo caging Genbu and the sacred talismans and light attaching to his shell. The wash of light and maw of darkness both hit the turtle dead-on, but he remained intact, the talismans and circles vanishing.

"WHAT?" Another round of gasps.

"Sorry, those Light and Dark Skills won't work on me! BUFULA!" Genbu smacked his tail and roared, launching a heavy chunk of ice as his counterstrike.

"That's twice the size of mine!" Maki shrieked. "I can't block that!"

"Scatter!" Naoya ordered. "It's slow!"

The slowly moving boulder of spotless ice missed completely as Naoya, Kei, Masao, Reiji, and Brown evaded to the left and Eriko, Ayase, Maki, and Yukino evaded to the right. The Bufula Skill crashed landed and ceased moving forward, proceeding to break down to water.

"Dividing yourself won't give ya a fighting chance! I'm about to take us into my playing field!" Genbu sucked in a vast amount of air, continuously slurping in at the rate of category four wind velocity. His fins seemed to bulge and contract as they struggled to fit the entirety of the holes in the shell.

"What's he doing now?" Masao asked thin air.

Kei readjusted his glasses, re-tucking his scarf in after it was nearly taken by awesome wind intake of Genbu's powerful lungs. "We should attempt to avoid the discharge when he chooses to exhale!"

Genbu snapped his tight mouth shut, his awkward features expanding like a blowfish. "BUFUDYNE TSUNDORA (A/N)!" With the announcement of his attack, Genbu deflated, exerting an ice-cold, snowy rush of air directly below his chin and extended neck. The powdery breath splashed and spread underneath Genbu and as his mouth expanded more and more air like a drainage pipe, the ice crept as if it was a living organism and reached the boundaries of the block, creating a sleek pane of dense aquamarine ice.

Everyone kept still, feeling the uneasiness of being without direct tractions. They were standing on crafted ice, smoother than any other either of nine had experienced.

"Great, the dickhead's got us in the palm of his hand." Reiji cursed, barely avoiding skating off by readjusting his footing.

"Remain calm, Kido."

"Screw you, four-eyes! Why don't you use that big-ass brain of yours to come up with a plan, if you have the time to tell me be calm!"

Kei bit his lip. "Unfortunately, I don't have the necessary data to give us an advantage."

"Hey, look at the big shell. Dude he looks like he's gonna cough up a lung!" Masao eagerly said, jumping on the balls of his feet for a moment, forgetting he was standing on ice and falling on his ass.

Genbu was hacking and wheezing, spitting out traces of tissues dragging along blue slime and blood. "Cause I overexerted my lungs for you humans. Your lives are mine." Genbu coughed. "You humans are such pathetic creatures. You can't stand on ice and you subtle skin grows oh so sensitive at the slightest breeze." Genbu hacked up more tissue. "Thank me for ending your lives!" The turtle's arms and legs retreated into their defensive fortress. Genbu's tail coiled together and slithered inwards as Genbu's ugly face pushed his neck inward, his one open eye, glowing red in the darkness of the protective shell.

"So, what, he's, like, playing possum?" Ayase asked, clueless as to what was going on.

Yukino smacked her hand on her forehead. "Ayase…he can't kill us if he's going to hide himself in his own armor."

"OH REALLY, GIRL! I HAVE A DEVESTATING COMBO OF MY OWN! SHERU NO SHOT (A/N)!" The shell began to rotate, spin at the rate of speed that Genbu inhaled the air to create the tundra.

"I see where this is going." Brown mumbled, reminded of a pachinko machine.

Genbu bounded off the pane with his tail, his spinning armor rocketing towards, Eriko's group.

"Hurry, get out of the way!" Naoya yelled over.

Genbu's take off was too fast for them to react and struck them, hitting them each with the full strength and weight of the initial push. His knock-down threw them all around, landing them on different portions of the ice. Using the sleekness of the tundra, Genbu, spinning faster, curved his course around and bounded towards Naoya's group with his tail.

The five were frozen at the incoming object. Reiji grabbed Masao and Brown by the collar and threw them both harshly out of the way. Naoya and Kei attempted to shift to the right without falling, but to no avail, they only made it a few meters before they and Reiji were struck with impact and flung over onto Brown and Masao. The two unscathed boys helped the other three recover as the girls were trying to as wells.

Genbu was circling back lining up his next attack.

Naoya closed his eyes, concentrating, his heart was pounding in his ears, and his ribs felt like they were dug into his lungs. "_There has to be a way to stop him. He's using too much momentum and force to not use it against him._"

"Goddamn oversized hockey puck!" Masao flipped off the turtle as the beast spun even faster. "How the hell can see where he's going if he's moving that damn quick!"

Naoya's eyes shot open. "That's it! Mark, you're a genius!"

"Huh?"

"He has to have the equilibrium and coordination to know which way he's spinning. If we displace his spin, put him in reverse or something like that we can take him off his axis! We just have to treat him like the turtle he is!" Naoya looked over his shoulder, Genbu preparing to launch. He saw Eriko. "Eriko! I have a plan in order for it to work, you have remove his buffs! I know you can think of a way! Then the rest of you four follow our lead!"

"Todo, exactly what are we doing?"

"We hit him hard, Kei. Brown!"

"Yes, N.T.!" Brown stood at attention.

"You and I are going to attack, he's ready to shoot at us. You stun him then I come in! Mark, flip him over, then you, Kei, Reiji, and I hit him together, then the girls!"

"Gotcha, Nao!" Masao preemptively swung his axe.

"Hey, punk, he's heading towards us!" Reiji pointed at the oncoming armored shell.

"Brown! Your up!"

Brown shakingly raised his spear. "Leave it to me, N.T.! NEMAIN! STUN NEEDLE!" Nemain arose fluttering her wings, a large needle of force energy in her hand. She threw it like a javelin, but unlike a bullet it didn't bounce. The force energy needle struck the shell itself, swallowing Genbu in a electrical current of green energy, paralyzing his movement and ending the spin, but the creature was still sliding on the ice.

"It won't last for long!"

"Won't have to!" Naoya flung his hand in front of his face, covering himself from the world with his mask, his façade of protection. "HERE IT GOES! PERSONA!" A cloudy white mist spewed from underneath his feet to the surprise of everyone else. Seimen Kongo arose, standing tall and ready to fight, roaring a human battle cry. "SEIMEN KONGO!" Naoya pointed at the paralyzed Genbu. "Use the wind, spin him backwards with all you can! GARULA!" Seimen Kongo raised his fists, elbows bent, and repeatedly punched midair countless times at an uncountable rate, creating a whipping surge of greenish wind, careening at the almost free Genbu. The Wind Skill surrounded the turtle, spinning in a counterclockwise motion, faster than he was when he was attacking. The wind was so intense, the Garula flipping the turtle right on his back effortless, without the need of Masao to do so.

"ERIKO!"

"_Nao's counting on me. I have to do this. I can hear the word in my mind. I just have to use it._" Eriko slashed her rapier from the side of her head. "Come, Nike!" Her guardian angel arose immediately unfolding it's wings. "Have a taste of your own Skill! DEKUNDA!" At the flap of Nike's wing-arms, she enveloped Genbu in a golden wave and the several auras surrounding him cracked and peeled away. "He's all yours!" Eriko exclaimed. "My love," she whispered.

"Reiji, Kei, Mark, aim at the center of his underbelly all at the same time!" Naoya covered his face with his hand.

Kei swiped his hand to the side.

Reiji threw an uppercut in the air.

Masao swung his axe up high.

"HERE IT GOES!"

"MY MOVE!"

"HELL YEAH!"

"LET'S GET FUNKY!"

"SEIMEN KONGO!" The blue man Persona flew out of the cloud white above Genbu.

"AIZEN MYOUOU!" The scantly purple clad Persona leaped to the opposite end of Genbu in the air.

"BRES!" The one-handed knight dashed beside Aizen adjacent to Aizen Myouou.

"OGUN!" The tribal man brandished his staff and joined the trio, keeping adjacent to Seimen Kongo in the air.

"Attack all at once!" They all yelled. "SPIN KICK! FISTS OF FURY! TWIN SLASH! FLURRY STAB!"

They each dive bombed the soft underbelly shell of the enervated turtle. Seimen Kongo planted a crater making kick at the same instance Aizen Myouou delivered a spree of stabbing jousts of punches with Ogun who added with his unseen rapid thrusting and Bres burly and swift two stroke slash. All four attacks: Leg, fist, spear, and sword crossed at exact point, pouring down a ultimately strong strike to Genbu. "ALMIGHTY PHYSICAL ASSAULT!" At their combined shout, Genbu's shell burst to fragments uncovering the accosted and distraught turtle.

"You guys finish him!" Naoya signaled.

Eriko readied her rapier by the side of her head. "COME, NIKE!"

Maki threw her hand in the air. "HELP ME, MASO!"

Ayase hazily cracked her whip. "LIKE, H-HORI!"

Yukino punched the air harshly. "HA! VESTA!"

The angel, flame dancer, priestess, and fabric Persona emerged and formed a square. "ZIONGA! BUFU! AGILAO! FREILA!" Nike spread her wings for the fourth time today and shot down a higher voltage bolt of lightning on Genbu's exposed skin, coursing the electricity throughout his amphibious system. Hori threw down her medium-sized fireball next and burnt the all ready singed area before Maso's praying hands turned the beast into an motionless ice sculpture. Vesta's Nuclear Skill ended it all, obliterating every fiber of the Sign of the Chinese Constellations being. "ALMIGHTY ELEMENTAL ASSAULT!"

At Genbu's demise, his Bufudyne Tsundora evaporated in to condensation on the grass, everyone's beaten and exhausted gathered back together for Maki to heal them.

"Damn, he was tougher than the pussy cat." Masao groaned as he cracked his neck.

"Hey, N.T., what was up-"

Brown was cut off. "Byakko was a tough opponent as well. He was neutralized easier at close range." Kei said eyeing Yukino.

"N.T., what was up with-"

Yukino cut him off this time. "I did blow his brains out the back of his skull. You can't get briefer than that."

"What was up with leavi-" Ayase yawned.

"When we head inside can we get some snacks from the vending machines? My tummy, is like, totally empty."

"Oh, Yuka," Eriko sighed, shaking her head. "All you think about is sleep and food."

"I HAVEN'T HAD ANY FOOD OR BEAUTY SLEEP FOR THIS ENTIRE TIME!" She whined.

"Why'd you leave me-" Naoya speaking overpowered Brown. Brown gave up, deciding to listen to what Naoya had to say.

"Ayase, is right." The Dia Skill died around Naoya. "We can't go on any longer without food or drink. After we grab the Expel Mirror, we're going to break open a vending machine and grabs drinks and food."

Maki's stomach growled. "It has been a while since I ate anything. I didn't have anything in your world."

Reiji rifled through his jacket pockets. "I have gum…and…these pills a couple of demons I killed at S.E.B.E.C. dropped. You swallow em' down and they heal you up nice."

"You had those the whole time and didn't tell anyone?" Masao asked.

"Guess it slipped my mind. We were getting our asses beat by a fuckin' turtle, Masa or whatever you're name is."

Masao was riled up yet again. "It's Masao, asshole! Better, Inaba, to you!"

Naoya shook his head disapprovingly. "_You know now that I look at it, strip away the asinine tendencies from Reiji, and he and Mark seem like they'd get along great._"

Eriko sat beside Naoya and started rubbing his shoulders. "You did a superb job today…brave leader…if you want me to call you that."

"I told you the day I met you Eriko you can call me whatever you want. Everyone else all ready does."

"Then, I can call you my love!"

Naoya's sweat dropped at Eriko's usual romantic euphoria. He let her down gently. "No…Eriko…not…right now."

"Oh, okay."

"Todo, are we ready to enter?" Kei asked standing.

Naoya stood also. "Sure. Eriko knows where it is. We can split up to grab the Expel Mirror and gather food and water."

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"Here it is! This must be the Expel Mirror!" Maki was pointing to a hand mirror made of jade resting on a cushioned pillow out in the open around the many display cases of believed to be arcane and magical objects.

Naoya examined it. Eriko, Kei, and Masao were also admiring it. Ayase, Brown, and Reiji had chosen to go hunt for food and they'd meet back at the lobby in five minutes.

Naoya reached out to lift it from it's sit, but ghastly sphere projected from the Mirror, displaying a young girls face. She was a brunette, the hair framing her face and her bangs tied with two tiny red ribbons. "Don't take this….you shouldn't take this…if you do something bad will happen." Her voice was childish, the girl couldn't have been more than six, she sounded desperate. The projection vanished at her last word.

Kei reset his hanging lower jaw. "_What was that? She look familiar, like Aki, but her outline…the little girl crying for help…back when we played Persona. Was that here? Philemon may have answered the why, but we still don't truly know anything do we?_"

"What was that?" Naoya asked.

"She looked like Aki and said not to take it." Maki added.

"Who gives a damn? We gotta have it or else." Masao argued.

"Maybe's it cursed and the little girl had a play in the creation of it. Oh, so exciting!"

"Kirishima, that is highly unlikely." Kei shot down. "Let us take and go Todo. You heard Philemon yesterday. If we don't stop Kandori by today he could do serious damage."

Naoya understood. "We'll regroup with the others and head to our next destination: Mikage Subway."

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

On the other side of Mikage, the opposite side of the erected barrier, in a stone-made medieval style castle with spires that towered to the level of the pills of thrash, junk, steelwork, mangled materials, and humans bones crowding around it. At the darkened, lightless throne room sat Takahisa Kandori. Aki was beside him.

"Daddy, Genbu went boom." Aki childishly giggled.

"The Expel Mirror must be in there hands by this point. It's a matter of time before they cross the barrier at the subway with it. Aki, be a dear, and summon Seiryu to guard the main tunnel to the gates to this side of town."

"Yes, Daddy! Erusaer Tysummon!"

"If they manage to beat a third sign of the Chinese Constellation, they'll have the Harem Queen to deal with, plus whatever tricks and traps your heart desires in the Kama Palace, Aki."

"YAY!"

"And if by a stroke of luck, those children and Reiji Kido make it here. It'll be to our advantage. They'll do the tiresome job for me and once that's complete, I can become God!"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

A/N: Using google translator so I'm not sure it is entirely accurate, but Tsundora should mean Tundra in Japanese. Sheru no should mean shell.

Before I explain, I'd just like to personally thank anyone who has put my story on story alert, or has favorite it. It means a lot to see that people enjoy it and I know I don't update as often as I should, but as I said at the start, I'm not going to give up I'm trucking it to the end whether I want to or not.

Holy shit! Longest chapter so far and damn did it take a long time! A long time is an understatement. I have had severe writer's block because of the sheer length of this chapter. 44 pages, nearly 9,000+ words and about two months work and I'm still am not satisfied with how the breakdown with Nao turned out, but screw it. I've did my best under life and work stress. I hope everyone gets what I'm trying to go for with the alignments and for the record alignments aren't in any Persona games, but since they are part of the MegaTen series, I figured I added it in to make things more interesting, after all it is my novelization, I have to have some originally other than demons. Either way, I hope you enjoyed Chapter 11 of Persona: Be Your True Mind and I'll see you next time for Chapter 12: Mikage Subway: Seiryu


	12. Chapter 12: Mikage Subway: Seiryu

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything_

In response to RaidEye, yeah sorry about the long wait. By the time I wanted to sit down and write Christmas was around the corner and I was spending most of my time with my family and etc added that I was busy doing gift shopping for December. I'm writing before this chapter is over, but I'm pretty sure it's not going to take that long it's only a three scene chapters.

In response to TheImperfectDarkOne, glad you like the novelization. It's kinda saddening that their aren't many fics for P1 and P2 on the site and I'm happy to be the only one who's really attempted to do a novelization. Apologies for the occasional grammatical or spelling errors, when I throw these in the document uploader for revisions it's usually after I'm done writing the chapters which can vary at 11-1 o'clock at night. So in my tired state or just normally I'm might miss a minor error.

Chapter 12 is a guess you could say a milestone chapter in a way. It's going to be told solely with Brown's thought because the chapter centers around him. Now, for his dialogue, the game has voice actors for when the characters are in battle but for actual text no voice, so I often find myself hearing a specific voice actor for lines of characters, like in my story I often hear Naoya as Yuri Lowenthall, Reiji is Liam O'Brian, Kei is Troy Baker, Yukino Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, Eriko Julie Maddalena, Maki Michelle Ruff, Masao is Kirk Thornton, and Brown is Tony Oliver. SO, if you can image some of Brown's one-liners for this in Tony Oliver's Hibiki Tokai voice from Vandread, I think you might feel like I do while writing this and actually to tell the truth Brown out of all the characters, I guess you could say I exaggerate the most, because the characters in the game excluding Maki and Reiji have no back stories, so I created my own based on their personalities whilst trying to have them reach a resolution which they don't do in the actual game. While if you like Brown you should like this chapter, you don't like Brown you won't like this chapter simple as that, but aspect other chapters in the story that are only going to be in the thoughts of a certain characters. Chapter 14 and Chapter 15 are likes this as well. With that aside, I welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind Chapter 12.

* * *

><p><em>Chapter Twelve: Mikage Subway: Seiryu<em>

Brown lifted his shades above his eyes, no longer needing them to block the rising rays of the morning sun. The group was stepping into the dark, dank, and dirty subway system of Mikage. "_Hoo-rah, maybe they actually hired a janitor to clean this world's terminals._" With it's loose brick walls and unnaturally smudged, greased, and littered tiled terminals, Mikage Subway was infamous for it's unlawful smell and near unsanitary environment.

Brown walked with the spear cradled under his arm, he'd gotten used to the odd-ended weight of the weapon. "_It's been ten minutes since we left the museum with the Mirror and supplies. N.T. shouldn't need to say anything important until we get close to the other side of town. Time to work the ol' Brown magic and slither my thoughts in and flip the conversation. I want to know seriously what was up?_"

"If we follow the tunnel up two stations we'll be at the turnstiles for the other side of town." Masao explained.

"I doubt trains will be in circulations, but to stay safe, we'll line up single file and stride off to the side up against the wall of the platform away from the rails as best we can manage." Naoya ordered.

"_He's done speaking! Interject!_" Brown cleared his throat. "Hey, N.T., I wanted to know what was up back there in the museum?"

"What are you referring to Brown?" Naoya asked.

"You know, you're grand plan to kill the turtle. You left me out, you know."

"Brown, you paralyzed him how is that leaving you out?"

"No! No! You left me out of your combined attack with Kei, Masao, and Reiji! Why leave me out? Come on, you know I'm the strongest out of all of us!" Brown boasted.

Masao and Reiji snorted, turning Brown's attention towards them.

"If you're the strongest, ass-hat, I'm King Enma." Reiji quipped.

"Brown, there's something you need to know, Nao's just too much of a nice guy to say it to your face." Masao informed.

"Yeah, what's that then Masao?" Brown asked sternly.

Kei took up the conversation. "Uesugi, the nine of us may truly know why we are here. Philemon told us it was by chance of the string of events, but in turn it was your fault we are united together in this mess. Frankly, I don't care for your company. You are obnoxious, pathetic, and filled with plenary garbage. Your tall-tales, jokes, and lies are hackneyed and your quite a nuisance in battle and out of it. You contribute nothing to strategies, formation, fighting assistance. You have not aided our group unless instructed to. When we are moving onward from place to place all you spout is never-ending carping and grievances. To be even more frank, Uesugi, I find you to be a cowardly parasite, that only chose to be a part of this for your own selfish reasoning. Todo, Masao, Yukino, Sonomura, Kirishima, Kido, and I, maybe even Ayase have at least a reason to be a part of this journey, yours is indubitably selfish and inane if you carry one at all."

Brown glared into the black tiles at his feet. He spat to the side, hoping it would relieve the bitter taste in his mouth from Kei's words. It didn't help. "Is that all you have to say, Nanjo?" Brown asked, firmly a no-nonsense tone to his usually nonsensical attitude."

Kei kept his cool, not threaten in the slightest, completely uncaring to Brown's feelings at all. "To be repetition, Uesugi. To be the most honest I can be, not a single person here could say they care for you at all."

Brown's fingers curled tightly around his spear, anger taking control of his fist. "_Say more, Nanjo! I dare you! I'll show you whose a coward! I'll skewer you like a shish kabob and smear this shit-hole in your guts!_

"Not one of us would protect you, Uesugi. If you were put in that situation to take a blow for any of us," Kei laughed, picturing Brown being able to do that. "You'd run away terror-struck and we'd only see your sad timid figure in the distance."

Brown jerked his spear-handling hand up, Naoya shoving it down. "Kei, that's enough!" Naoya scolded. "Do you want Brown to kill you?"

"Uesugi, wouldn't be able to touch me in his life."

"You're an idiot, Kei."

"What did you say, Todo?" Kei asked, getting in Naoya's solid face.

"Look at Brown, Kei!"

Brown's arm was writhing in Naoya's grip. "_Let go of me! I'll stab him in the throat!_"

"You instigated the Chaos, Kei! You and Brown were about to throw down with your Personas like Reiji and I did yesterday. We don't have time for more alignment trouble, let alone deal with the aftermath of another fight."

"Plus, four-eyes, Kandori probably all ready knows were coming with the Mirror. That bastard probably has another of those Sign assholes waiting for us. Considering how well we did against the last guy everyone of us is going to have to pitch in as much as I hate to emit it." Reiji added.

Yukino stepped to Kei's side. "Kei, go on and apologize to Hidehiko, before he attacks you."

"I refuse to offer an apology to the truth."

"Nanjo, get off your goddamn high horse! Your guilty of the same shit you accused Brown of possibly doing!" Masao exclaimed.

"Your indictment, Masao, has no basis!"

"Really, Nanjo, let me refresh your memory. A day and half ago, outside the front doors of the police station, you left Brown and I to be meals for those little shit Ukobachs!"

"I went for help! I brought help!"

Ayase chimed in oddly. "Nanjo, we all know, like, you totally didn't do it for their sake."

"I'm inclined to agree with Yuka, Kei." Eriko said.

"I agree with Yuka-chan too."

Now Kei faced the floor. Brown ceased his struggling, hearing the words of the others. "_That's right, Nanjo, sulk in your wrongdoings! When we're done with this, I'm going corrupt your reputation, your company…and whatever else you have of value! You don't know a damn thing about me! This isn't the Chaos in my mind, this is the true thoughts of Hidehiko "Brown" Uesugi!_" Brown sighed. "_I'm not a coward…and I'm not useless._"

Brown removed his arm from Naoya's grip. "I'll show you." He muttered. "I'm cool, N.T., the urges and thoughts are out of my system."

"Okay, just make sure to not think about it Brown. That's the easiest way to keep away from the Chaos." Naoya suggested.

"Got it." He hissed.

"I'm going to take the front of the line, Brown you're right behind me. Then Maki, Masao, Eriko, Ayase, Reiji, Yukino, and then Kei is all the way in the back. I want you two to be far away from each other."

"_N.T.'s acting like it's partial my fault. I didn't say a damn word. It was all Nanjo. He doesn't understand, none of them do. They don't understand the emptiness. They don't understand the loathing. They'll never understand me. I'm not lonely, I haven't lost anyone, but that doesn't mean I don't have motivation to be who I am or to be here at all. I could've run away a long time ago then this power of Persona Butterfly-sama gave me those months ago awakened and the situation was different. I didn't want to run away anymore. I…what the hell am I doing? I'm babbling to myself in my mind. No one's listening. I'm just gonna walk._"

A feminine "humph" of displeasure could be heard in the recesses of the young man's mind.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Coming to the end of the tunnel, blocked by collapsed rock and rubble. Luckily the last platform before the tunnel collapse was the one they needed to exit from. The nine hiked up onto the terminal.

"Turnstiles are up ahead, get the Expel Mirror ready Mark." Naoya said, signaling Masao to retrieve the jade object from his backpack.

"How does this thing even work?" Masao questioned peering at his own reflection. "If it can take down the barrier why couldn't we have used it up above ground?"

Eriko answered. "My assumption is that the Mirror doesn't have the power to expel the whole barrier dividing the wards of Mikage. So, maybe down here in a more confined area, the barrier is weak enough and condensed enough for the Mirror to remove."

"Kirishima's assumption is right." Kei's hand ran over an invisible sheet of air in front of the turnstiles.

"So, what do we do, Nao-kun?" Maki asked.

"Mark, try pointing it at the wall. See what it does." Naoya suggested.

"Gotcha, Nao!" Masao fumbled to delicately angle the Expel Mirror to display the fronts of the turnstiles.

Brown tapped his spear on his shoulder, irritated. "Is it going to do anything?" He hissed.

The Expel Mirror glowed in Masao's hands, much to his surprise and the reflecting surface was glazed over in white which soon retracted back to the border of jade encasing the mirror. The Mirror ceased its glow.

Kei's pushed his hand forward, actually being able to pass and touch the cold, metal glorified toll booths. "The barrier has dropped, Todo. We can proceed."

"_Brilliant deduction, Nanjo. I'm sure the mystic object glowing in Masao's hands did fuck all to aid us in anyway._" Brown glowered. "Way to state the obvious?" He said under his breath.

After Masao put away the Expel Mirror in his bag. Everyone prepared to jump the threshold to the stairway. Naoya's ear perked. "Everyone, hold up! Stay close!" Everyone halted and kept together as Naoya instructed.

He heard a whishing sound breezing by him. It continued actually causing his earring to shift about. The slight hiss magnified into a gust hitting them all, throwing their hair and loose clothing into furrows. The gust picked up swirling together in a contorting, slender, and serpentine hurricane, gaining a definite turquoise color. The wind current blew through the Persona Users again, the turquoise wind visible.

From the constant rising and falling end of the figure of wind came a flag-like tall, wavering in the air, bursting from the spiraling current and green energy. Element and color dissipating, stubby four talon claws protruded as arms and legs near the end of the revealed azure-scale serpent-like body and up close to the still revealing head. At the wrist and ankles were cowl of lapis fur. Finally the head burst from the energy, a dragon's appearing, complete with Elk-type horns extending from the top of the skull, oscillating up-and-down tendrils, similar to a moustache, extending to the lengths of ten feet, snarling nostrils above the gaping maw, and two yellow eyes glaring at the teens in front of it.

The azure dragon spoke, his rippling form at the width of an oak tree matching the wavelength of his whiskers. "I am Long, the Japanese call me Seiryu!" His voice was brisk and fast like the wind. "I am one of the Four Signs of the Chinese Constellations!"

"Dude, we just fought one of you!" Masao complained.

Brown put his spear in his ready stance. "_Why did Kandori pick the Ssu-Ling from Chinese myths anyway? When I write this up for my quick-dime, I'm leaving these guys out. They're needless hindrances._"

"_**Oh really**__?_" A feminine, but familiar voice rung in Brown's mind.

"_Huh? What was that?_"

"Master Kandori, has asked me to guard the way to his domain! A mouthful of humans will not be able to stop me! Bai Hui, Gui Xian they often like to play with their opponents, but clearly that has gifted them defeat! I prefer to decimate in one attack!"

"Everyone get ready!" Naoya ordered, drawing his katana from the back of his waist with his MP5.

The wind picked up around the dragon. "Before I end this, if you choose to try to attack me with anything! Bullets, swords, arrows, spears, axes, whatever you have armed yourselves with is futile! My scales are thicker than Gui Xian's and my skull is not as soft as Bai Hui's!" The wind rose higher and whipped faster.

The female spoke again in Brown's thoughts. "_**Might wanna tell them to dodge**__._"

"_What? Again? Am I going nuts?_"

"_**So, you can hear me. You just aren't comprehending anything I'm saying. Your loss**__._"

"MAGARULA!" The wind flying skyward of Seiryu lapped over and shot forward like a tidal wave. Everyone was caught in the Wind Skill, the savage wave much like Genbu's Sheru no Shot, sent each of them flying, impacting the brick walls of the subway with heavy force. An added effect was the dozens of nicks and slashes darted across their clothing, exposed skins, and underneath the cloth.

Naoya's spat blood to the side of the excess dripping into his mouth from a slice on his cheek. He pulled himself from the now-destroyed brick wall he Masao and Maki were thrown into.

Brown watched on, he was jostled a little bit. Pushed almost off the platform. He saw everyone standing back up, looking somewhat bad, but not deathly injured.

"_**Nothing a little Media can't fix**__._" She said.

"_Seriously, what the hell is that?_"

"_**Sigh**_"

"The Magarula was not enough, eh?"

"So much for decimating us in one shot, Shen Long!" Masao exclaimed, the sleeves of his jacket in tears with multiple cuts trailing his arms.

"Your nothing special, dragon." Reiji stated smugly. "I've had deeper and worse cuts then these!" Reiji pointed his thump to the scar, etched in his forehead.

Naoya stepped up. "Kei, Eriko, do you have anything to protect against Wind Skills?"

"I do, Todo." Kei replied, swiping his broadsword to the side to summon his Persona. "Persona! Wind Wall!" Aizen Myouou spread it's arms, a greenish wind encircling them all strictly. "I'm not sure how well this will work, but it is all I have at my disposal, Todo."

"That's fine, Kei. I don't want the back-blow to hit you all." Naoya stepped closer to Seiryu who was gathering his wind. Naoya's hand covered his face. The milky white mist consuming him.

"What do you mean, back-blow, brave leader?"

"Just stay together everyone!"

"Human, you want to take me, Seiryu, on! I can feel it you have a resistance to the wind, yet your not the least injured. With a resistance to wind, I can believe you too use the wind! Let us see how you stand against me!"

"_Okay, when N.T. and Seiryu collide, I'm gonna damage him. I'll show Nanjo I'm not useless._"

"_**Are you sure that's a good idea**__?_"

"_Yes, of course I'm sur-ah goddamn it, I have gone insane. I'm talking with the voices in my head!_"

"HERE IT GOES! PERSONA!" Seimen Kongo shot upward, bellowing, his right arm, his clenched fist, trembling with power and wind flurry around each knuckle.

"Come, boy! Strike with all you have!" Seiryu's fierce gaze struggled with Naoya both not giving any lean-way for intimidation.

"GARULA!" Seiryu roared and Seimen Kongo threw his punch. They both unleashed a gale of green wind that splashed together, the winding air streaming backwards at the casters due to the struggle.

"_Now_!" Brown called forth his Persona. "Go for it, NEMAIN!" The eloquent dressed goddesses appeared, a displeased look on her face.

"Uesugi, what the hell are you doing?"

"SHUT UP, NANJO! MAZANMA!" Nemain threw her open palms out at Seiryu firing a rapid barrage of the medium-sized Zan energy balls at Seiryu.

Naoya looked back. "BROWN, STOP!"

The Garula clash ended and the Mazanma struck every inch of Seiryu, exploding on contact as normal. Seiryu bleeding jaw escaped the smokescreen caused by the Zan Skill. The Mazanma had managed to inflict minor damage to Seiryu.

The azure dragon yelled. "How dare you interrupt our clash, human! All your ends are here! MIND CHARGE!" A spring of energy pulsed underneath Seiryu. No physical difference had occurred.

Reiji and Masao flipped Brown off. "Wait to go, asshole!" They both shouted.

"_I didn't expect it to piss him off!_"

"_**Guess you weren't so sure after all**__._" She counted.

"_Oh shut up! Your nothing, but a figment of my imagination._"

"_**Wow, you are dense! I am you**__._"

"_What?_"

Seiryu roared, summoning the winds to do his bidding. Turquoise cyclones spun in a counterclockwise motion, consuming into a severe, feral tornado. The wind speed hurling wide gusts at the Persona Users in succession as the commanding tornado enlarged. Previous breezes created by Seiryu felt refreshing, a light touch to the skin, these he sent were rough and granted wind-burn.

Seiryu's yellow eyes glowed, pinpointing his location in the tornado. He spoke loudly to overtake the sounds of the wind, which were now picking up the brick rubble that his Magarula created. "You have angered me! I am done with you all! I acted like Bai Hui and Gui Xian, playing with you, even with me doing that you have not defeated me! It was fun for the moment, but you must contend with the force of the heavens! HEAVENLY CYCLONE!"

At Seiryu's announcement, the tornado encasing him vanished, fading away like it was never there. Before Naoya could give the word to counterattack, the tornado reappeared….as the dozens of cyclones that manifested it, but they appeared not around Seiryu instead in the very center of the group. A second blitz of air currents, they were thicker, heavier, and as finely edged as a razorblade with the nine teens trapped inside, being taking for a brutal ride through debris and slashes to every inch of their beings. As the cyclones spun for minutes, the wounds expanded, seeping a red tint to the turquoise.

At the mark of two minutes, the Heavenly Cyclones dropped their victims. Naoya, Masao, Maki, Eriko, Reiji, Ayase and Kei fell to the uprooted tiles, disheveled and battered beyond belief. Brown on the other hand was fine to his own surprise leisurely chucked a far few meters from everyone else.

There he laid, almost recumbent and relaxed on the wall. "_Shit, shit, shit! I'm such an idiot!_"

"_**Really**__? __**Never would have known**_."

"_Okay, seriously what the hell are you? You said you're me and why am I not hurt like everyone else?_"

"_**My, you are a forgetful one. Let me recite the speech again. Maybe this will jog your memory. Thou art I and I am thou, I am a being that has emerged from the sea of your soul, I shall lend you my power, I am Nemain!**_"

"_My Persona? You're Nemain!_"

"_**Do I have to repeat myself?**_"

"_But, how? Why can I hear you, when I couldn't before?_"

"_**I been commenting this whole time, most likely your friends' Personas have to, but you may be able to hear me now, because you opened your eyes and unplugged your ears.**_"

"_What does that mean and you never answered why I'm fine?_"

"_**First is difficult to explain.**_ _**Second one easy, I absorb Wind and Force. So, out all of you, you're the safest from ol' Seiryu. If you wanted to you could run.**_"

Brown's eyes broaden, images of a six year old version of himself running away from a middle-age man with a sword-less scabbard, several other children laying on the sidewalk at the man's feet flashing in his head. He gasped as Naoya fumbled, standing back to his feet, trying his greatest to not let his glare at Seiryu falter.

"_N.T., his clothes are soaked in blood. How is he standing?_"

"_**Weren't you listening? His Persona resists Wind, not as great as absorbing, but…**_"

"_He's going to try to take on Seiryu, is he insane! He can't win by himself! We probably couldn't win together!_"

"_**Déjà vu, huh? Of that sop story memory that haunts you**_, _**right?**_"

"_You know…about it. How?_"

"_**Well, I am you, that's why I'm your Persona, so being inside the sea of your soul I can see who you are, meaning the memories of the past, your thoughts, and etc. As I was saying this scene is very reminiscent, right. This situation was proposed by that glasses boy too.**_"

"_What are talking about? Seiryu isn't doing anything he just did that Mind Charge thing again. Even if I wanted to I don't know if I can do it and take the blow for N.T. Even if I could, what would it accomplish, delay all our deaths a few minutes._"

"_**Maybe this emptiness you often privately hate is related to it. Perhaps you need to face the problem you have.**_"

"_Yeah, what's that? Enlighten me, because even for someone whose suppose to be me doesn't understand me at all!_"

"_**I wouldn't be so sure of that. We'll need to make it quick, Seiryu's preparing his upcoming attack. I'm gonna bring some memories up at a subliminal speed, try to reflect on them, please**_."

"_You've lost me._" A serious of pictures delineating Brown's "haunted" memory flashed through his mind, like a freight train at full speed.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

A young six year old Hidehiko Uesugi was playing with Beigoma (A/N: The tops were you wrap the string around them and pull.) with five other children on the sidewalk of his neighborhood. They were enjoying the summer day. Unfortunately it was to turn absolutely sour as Hidehiko suggested going we're none of their mothers would allow. He wanted to go in front of Mr. Yoshida's lawn.

Mr. Yoshida was the neighborhood kill-joy, who detested disturbances. He was of the age of fifty, retired from his family dojo, letting his sons teach the arts of Iai to the mature, responsible youth of his town. With nothing to do being retired, Yoshida cared for his lawn and garden more than his own offspring. He occasional practiced his Iai swordsmanship with a sacred family katana that was forged by his forefathers. He often required peace and quite to relax for the moment, which is why he banned kids and loud music from being presented near his house. He had called the police saying the music barely piercing the walls of his neighbor homes was disturbing him and the handful of youngsters who may have accidentally stepped on his finely treated and cut grass were attempting to vandalize his property. If the music wasn't lowered, he would badger the dispatcher with complaints in anguish until it was taken care of and if the child wasn't punished or removed off his lawn, he'd take matters into his own hands. In a blind rage, he would un-sheath the family katana, brandishing the scabbard only, stomp outside of his house and porch, swinging the scabbard threateningly in the air, yelling profanities and warnings to the disrespectful and immature youths on his hallow front lawn. He was raised on discipline, he raised his sons on discipline, he taught his students with discipline, and he dealt with rowdy, unrestrained teens and children with discipline.

Hidehiko had convinced his friends to go to Mr. Yoshida's. They were only six, they knew how to test the patience of others and loved every minute of it. Hidehiko would regret his idea.

When they arrived to spin their Beigoma in front of the lush grass of Mr. Yoshida's residence, they deliberately made disrupting noises, clapping their hands, kicking and jumping on the curb, intentionally trying to annoy Yoshida, who retaliate unlike other times.

Yoshida had apparently earlier that morning dealt with a couple disgruntled neighborhood graffiti enthusiast who tried to tag his house because they didn't appreciate his consistent hindrances of their loud music. He was on the edge of exploding and taking matters into his own hands during the afternoon. The heavy claps and stomps and the sound of the children laughing on his front lawn put him over the edge. He skipped the phone call, he wasn't in the mood. He was angry, unable to relax, because of minor disturbances. Children needed discipline and he was going to give it to them in spades. He un-sheathed his family sword, taking the oak-crafted scabbard in his hands. He went outside, the children not running wanting to see how far he'd go.

Yoshida barked and screamed pissed beyond belief, demanding all of them beat it or else he'd beat them himself. The thought of running never crossed their minds even when Yoshida gave a swift smack to the head of one of them.

They then started pleading up and down that it wasn't their idea to play in front of his house. Yoshida asked them furiously whose it was. No one would answer, they were a close-pack of friends, whose fathers and mothers had lived on the same block for years. Five out of six of them wouldn't give each other up.

Hidehiko was the exception. He was an opportunist like his father taught him to be to his mother chagrin. Taken his father's words of "every man for himself" to heart. He could have confessed to Yoshida, said it was his idea to deliberately annoy the fifty-year old man and took the punishment he'd received, but he decided to turn tail and run, afraid of the pain, selling out his friend Sota as he ran.

Yoshida wasn't pleased. The other children weren't going to run. They had lied to him, disturbed him. Discipline was needed to such immoral children and so he handed it to them. Striking each brutally with his scabbard, bruising there frail bodies, the boys taking the pain that Hidehiko deserved.

Hidehiko had not only lied, but he ran away like a coward, when if he excepted responsibility, maturely he would have become the hero in his friends eyes. This effected his relationship with his friends on a level he couldn't imagine. The families of the boys attacked by Yoshida stopped socializing with the Uesugis and banned their children from going near the Uesugi household, they happily obliging. And so, Hidehiko grew up alone, often staying in his room, or playing by his lonesome on his block, his former friends being called back into their respective homes if he went outside.

As the years passed, Hidehiko entered middle school, the other boys he'd betrayed too, having a deep-seated grudge against his actions at six years old. They had ended up in the same middle school, the families were unaware because they no longer communicated with each other.

Hidehiko had a hard time making friends, having lost the ones he had in elementary school permanently. He decided to fudge-truths, concoct lies, bath himself in arrogance and self-adoration to at least be able to be in a crowd or sit at a table at lunch. Hidehiko made the mistake of making one lie too many. He figured spiting his friend in the past wasn't going to do harm him in the present. They all ready hated his guts since age seven, how much worse could it get.

The second biggest mistake of Hidehiko's life was spinning the narrative of his incident with Yoshida, bragging that he stood up to the man and emasculated him in his old age with a bunch of creative jokes while his friends ran away crying to their mothers, he even rambled off Sota's and a few other names of the five. His story escalated into a rumor which was telephoned through out school, reaching the ears of Sota and others. Needless to say the five were pissed.

Sota and the others didn't appreciate Hidehiko slandering them with the crap he was guilty of. They were pushed to the point were they taught him a lesson, show him the discipline he needed for putting the praise on him and the shame on them.

They cornered him at the end of the day, not saying a word. They wanted the silence to scare him, to make him understand the eminent event that was about to befall him. Hidehiko stammered, trying to convince them he was joking, he wasn't serious. They didn't buy his bull lie and made him finally feel the pain he escaped. Hidehiko cowardly tried to run again instead of confessing his guilt again. He received a beat down from each of them at the same time, Sota fractured a rib and sprained his arm.

Hidehiko found himself stuck, unable to move. They had beaten him badly. Was this what they had endured or felt when Yoshida went to town on them? He asked. It was then Brown was hit home with the guilt understanding what he had done, but it couldn't be helped it was in the past, gone for ever. He was afraid, he ran, he couldn't step up and take the responsible anymore and he'd lost his only true friends because of it. After that day, the Uesugis moved to the town of Mikage, where no one knew their name and no one would hurt their son. Hidehiko had lied to them, saying he was mugged for pissing off a gang member, leaving Sota and the others out of it, he got what he deserved and he knew it fully well.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"_Okay…maybe you do know me. I was an idiot, it can't be changed. The situation back then and now mirror each other yes, but what is it I can do?_"

"_**The emptiness is from the chose you made isn't it? You decided to not be the hero, but to be the coward. So, which do you chose to be. Can you be the hero or are you the coward?**_"

Brown stood, putting down his shades, dying the world in bronze. He picked up his spear, leaving it adjacent to his waist, firmly grasping it with both hands.

Naoya still stood tall, Seiryu had forgot the Mind Charge in favor of just a thrust right at Naoya. The dragon was pulling back his horned head, opening his jaw. Seiryu darted his open-mouth at Naoya.

Brown gulped, sweat dotting his brow. He'd made his decision. He was going to follow through. He yelled his answer to Nemain at the top of his lungs as his legs took off, his muscles straining at the incredible speed he sprinted. "**MY NAME IS HIDEHIKO "BROWN" UESUGI AND I CAN BE THE HERO!**"

Seiryu's had made it to Naoya, Brown's spear plowed into his unsuspecting right eye, puncturing it entirely, causing blood and ocular fluid to gush and spray. Brown gritted his teeth shoving the spear farther in as Seiryu yelled in pain.

"You are dead, human!"

"KISS MY ASS!" Brown leveled the thrust spear with his left hand and jammed the barrel of his TMP into the iris of Seiryu's other eye. He pulled the trigger emptying the clip in seconds, splashing Seiryu's own face with vicious fluid mixed with his own blue blood. Brown angled his foot and kicked the dragon in the snout, un-wrenching his spear from the beast's eye. The azure dragon rose high, roaring in rage.

"I will use my Mind Charge to finish you all!"

Brown looked up at the dragon, determined, his heart pounding in his ears, the adrenaline flowing in his veins, He dropped the gun and favored his spear, charging forward at the dancing tail-of-a-body the dragon possessed.

"Brown!" Naoya called. "What are you doing?"

"**LEAVE IT TO ME!**" A powerful, expanding aura of velvet blue overtook Brown as he thrust his spear to the heavens with his determined arms. The blue aura aided the spear in it's target objective and skewered the dragon right through his underbelly, Brown keeping him locked where he stood. "_I won't run! I'll do this! I'm not making the same mistake as last time! This won't fill the emptiness, this won't make up for what I did, but if I can maybe save some lives even if it means my own, I can really be the hero, I can really show justice! I'm giving it everything ounce of energy I got!_" Brown arched his head up, the aura pulsating, resonating with his emotions. "**PEEEEERRRRSOOOONAAAA!**"

A shatter of glasses was heard in Brown's mind. "_**Thou art I and I am thou! Thou hast proven thyself worthy of the power of Justice! Thou hast had a revelation of the heart and demonstrated objectivity, rationality, and a sense of justice! Thou hast earned his Ultimate Justice! Nemain hast become Tyr, the God of Glory and Victory!**_"

Nemain erupted from the aura, soaring towards Seiryu, her lilac hair flurrying, her plume feathered wings flapping, her cocktail dress fluttering within the energy. She smiled, white painting her over in a veil. Her surface peeled away, a completely different figure revealed his self. A eight foot tall man, skin a cerulean blue, stark naked except for a flowing cape of dark blue silk, his right hand was steel, mechanical, artificial, wielding a double-side battle axe arose; he was aiming straight at Seiryu's mouth his hair of brownish red, matching Brown's, in a frenzy. Seiryu opened wide and Tyr raised his weapon high to match.

"Open wide, say ah, and die!" Brown heard a increasingly pronounced word in the foreign tongue, repeating in his mind.

"**TYR! BINAL STRIKE!**"

Tyr swung his axe, grabbing with both hands, slicing both jaws done the middle, bisecting the head of the azure dragon in half as green electrical energy sparked over him and transferred to Seiryu. In the moment of Tyr retrieving his axe the energy formed a dome of Zan and detonated, swallowing Tyr, Seiryu, and Brown in the blast radius. The Skill reduced Seiryu to giblets, the Force energy pierced his proud scales as a residual kick back of the axe chopping his not-so soft skull in two. Tyr took the strike, vanishing after as all Personas do, but just as a Persona takes the damages as does the user.

Brown fell, unable move, reminded of the time Sota and his friends beat him. He shut his eyes, not aware of the aftershock of the Skill. He didn't care. He still deserved it, even if the voice told him he had demonstrated himself worthy of the power of Justice. In his blank sleight of a mind, Nemain's card, that Igor had predicted his Arcana with floated. The image morphed to Tyr, his Ultimate Justice, his cape behind him and his artificial hand holding his axe to cover his pelvic area. Brown smiled on the inside and outside, feeling a little better about himself, letting his consciousness drift not knowing where he'd end up.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"Brown! Brown!"

"Maki, use that Recarm thing again."

"Masao-kun I don't have enough spiritual energy to do that again. I was barely able to use the Mediarama to heal us all."

Brown's eyes opened, feeling refreshed and healed. Everyone was crowded in a circle around him. He weakly grunted and said. "What's the matter? Somebody die,"

Ayase nailed him in the side with her foot. "Brown, you're an asshole!" She was crying.

"Oh, Ayase, I didn't know you cared so much for me."

She kicked him again. "No, I like don't care about you! Y-y-y-you're….just an asshole!" She kicked him a third time.

Naoya helped him up. "Hey, thanks for saving me, Brown. If you didn't jump in I don't know if I could have stopped Seiryu."

"No problem, N.T." They high-fived.

Kei extended his hand to Brown. "Uesugi,"

"Yeah, what do you want Nanjo?" Brown was bitter.

"I…would like to apologize. From what Todo informed us of, you proved me wrong. I…was wrong about you." Kei was somber.

Brown chuckled and shook Kei's hand. "Ah, it's nothing Nanjo." He hooked his arm over Kei's neck. "Now, if you really want to make it up to me you can give me some of your fortune when this mess is done."

Kei's eyes narrowed. "You're pushing your luck, Uesugi."

Masao sighed. "That was close. We almost bit it big time there."

"The most important thing is we survived and Brown is to thank for that." Naoya stated. "He saved our lives, so maybe we can show him a little more respect." Naoya eyed Kei who folded his arms and to Reiji who just waved him off. "Okay, let's go. Who knows what's awaiting us next."

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

* * *

><p>Well, that turned out longer than I thought it would. For the record, that's not Brown's actually back story. None of the characters except for Maki and Reiji have actual back stories. I weaved it together based on his personality and basic logic, plus during the game he sometimes talks about skeletons in closets, so I thought of maybe leaving his friends to take the fall for something and then they retaliated when he brought it up. I hope it makes sense. As for the Nemain turning into Tyr, Brown's ultimate Persona in the game, the characters don't go through resolutions like in Persona 3 or Persona 4 during the game instead at a late, late, late area of the game you receive items that you need to use in Persona fusion to create the Ultimate Personas for you party members, since I'm trying to avoid a lot of game mechanics in the novelization, I decided that for the characters sake so they don't seem like flat or static characters, but round characters they'll have resolutions with their back stories like in Persona 3 so when they fully develop their initial Persona becomes their Ultimate Persona. Little bit early than I originally was going to update, three days early in fact. Either way, I hope you enjoyed Chapter 12 of Persona: Be Your True Mind and I'll see you next time for Chapter 13: Black Market Part 1: Trapped.<p> 


	13. Chapter 13: Black Market Part 1: Trapped

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything_

Two more chapters until we reach the halfway mark of the novelization, because the entire fic is planned to be thirty chapters. That being said after this three part dungeon/area, there's a chain of four incredibly short chapters, some of which are only one to two scenes. So once we get over this hump, we're going to be tumbling down the hill. Also like to note, I really like this part of the game, hate the dungeon with a passion, but I like the storyline here, it's interesting, so I'm going to try my hardest to do it justice. The first part is primarily exploration and story. Part two is action. Part three is action and conclusion. Remembering that Chapter 14 and Chapter 15 are going to be set in the thoughts of other characters only, so be weary of that, because all and all I liked how Chapter 12 came out. With that aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind Chapter 13.

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><p><em>Chapter Thirteen: Black Market Part 1: Trapped<em>

Naoya finished climbing the final step to the surface of the second side of town and it was quite different in the counterfeit world than his. The barrier had apparently blocked out the severe changes from both sides. On this side of town, a covering of black clouds blotted out the sky, preventing the rays of the sun from breaching the surface. The earth was infertile, rotted. The normal fecund soil with it's flourishing and blossoming grass and flowers were no-more, withered and dug up. The air felt tainted, like Naoya was breathing in pollution.

To his right their was a pile of trash stacked at least sixty feet high, consisting of tin cans, television, plaster, wall interior, fragments of a smashed-in wall, porcelain tiles from the ceiling of a house, trash cans, bed frames, chairs, human remains and the thing that caught Naoya's attention the most: stuffed teddy bears. Their were more than he could count snared and pinched in the imperial wall of garbage.

Ahead was the only way to progress due to the wall extending forward at least another sixty feet, closely brushing up to the building before Naoya and curving in on itself after clearing it and the invisible barrier apparently being erected up to the left side. The building was Joy Street, the strip mall of Mikage. Joy Street in essence was a giant lower-case 't', built to the height and width of a house, colored a bland, uninteresting gray, and filled with a total of seven spots of entertainment. The arcade Naoya favored, Judgment 1999, the Esumi Clinic that would gouge you for every penny you had for a band aid, the Tadashi Pharmacy, where you could buy over-the-counter medicine for a cheap price while listening to a catchy jingle, Rosa Candida, a fashion and clothing store, Sennen Mannen-Do, an antique shop, the Yin & Yen, a dollar store, and lastly Peace Diner, a casual diner that the teenagers often visited after school to relax and hang out.

"_Joy Street,_" Naoya thought, waiting for the others to reach the surface. "_Hopefully this one is the same as the other._"

Everyone gathered together and approached the strip mall, entering through the swinging doors to the 't' shaped structure. After all nine of them had entered the doors snapped shut and clicked, not letting the noxious outside air in the humid and heated environment of Joy Street.

"_The way those doors shut bothers me._" Naoya thought, wiping the sweat forming on his brow from only spending a handful of seconds in the change of temperature. "_At least it doesn't smell like trash._"

"So, Todo, what's the course of action?" Kei asked, putting away his rifle, knowing and feeling that Joy Street was safe.

Naoya eyed the exit on the other side of Joy Street, his gaze passing over the six of the shops built into the gray walls and the one at the right end of the horizontal portion of the 't'. The left was vacant. "_Not a demon for the thirty feet stretch. Appears safe enough. No need to rush the doors, we can breathe easy and walk for a bit._"

Naoya let go of his firearm and made sure his katana was sheathed. "Exits are right there. Let's take a quick look around and then we'll leave."

"Yay! Where's Rosa Candida? I totally need a new pair of heels!" Ayase exclaimed, bouncing up and down.

Eriko shook her head. "Oh, Yuka, so simple-minded."

"Hate to break it to you, Yuka-chan, but they don't sell shoes and clothing here." Maki announced.

"What?" Naoya and Masao asked simultaneously, raising their eyebrows.

"The Sun Mall by the school sells weapons and armor and stuff." Maki replied. "And so does Joy Street here, but it's more high quality stuff."

Ayase looked disappointed. "Aw…no shoes."

Eriko patted her on the shoulder. "Sorry, Yuka, no shoes."

Reiji crossed his arms, the M4 on his back. "Jesus, do any of you take this shit seriously?"

"Not usually," Yukino replied, putting away her sawn-off.

"Maki, how goes the price range for whatever the shops are selling?" Naoya asked. "_If we can buy ammunition and higher quality equipment, fighting Kandori and the obstacles he puts in our way could be easier._"

Maki pondered, tapping her index finger on her chin, beads of sweat building. "Well, how much do we have?"

"I'm broke, so zip from me." Reiji stated.

"Second that!" Masao added. "All my moneys back at home!"

"I have 1500 yen," Eriko said. (A/N: About 20 US Dollars)

"Like, 1000 yen," Ayase added. (A/N: About 15 US Dollars)

"500 yen," Yukino stated. (A/N: About 5 US Dollars)

Brown turned out his pockets. "Triple note on the dead broke situation, N.T."

"I have about 500 yen too." Naoya said, taking the bills and changes from his pants pocket.

"Me too, Nao-kun." Maki said.

"What about you, four-eyes?" Reiji asked Kei.

Yukino came to the young heir to the Nanjo Group's side. "Yeah, Kei, how much do you have?"

Kei leisurely opened his wallet and produced 15,000 yen. (A/N: About 200 US Dollars.)

"Shit, Nanjo, why would you carry that much?" Masao asked, flabbergasted. "Lunch only cost, at minimal a thousand."

"Several reasons that do not concern you, Masao. I assume this amount will suffice, Sonomura?"

Maki nodded. "Uh-huh, Kei-kun, with 15,000 yen we can buy a few things."

"Then, we'll split the money and split up to shop." Naoya ordered. "We'll split into two groups and meet at Peace Diner in fifteen minutes; 7500 yen for each group."

"All right, then, how are we divided, Todo?" Kei asked, separating the money into a pair of 7500 yen.

"Kei, Masao, Maki, Yukino, with me. We'll search Rosa Candida, Sennen Mannen-Do, and Yin & Yen. Ayase, Brown, Reiji, Eriko you four check out Esumi Clinic and Tadashi Pharmacy, see if you can buys us any medical supplies. Let Judgement 1999 be, I'm sure it's still an arcade, right Maki?"

"Yes, it is, Nao-kun."

The nine separated into their respective groups. "_This place is definitely different, other than selling weapons and armor. I can feel like there's something under the surface we aren't seeing._"

"Like, it's like a steam bath in here! My jacket's, like, totally heavy!" Ayase complained, letting her blue coat dangling off her shoulders.

Brown stood beside her trying his best to not cut himself while wiping Seiryu's blood and fluids off the tip of his spear. Reiji and Eriko were moving to the Esumi Clinic and Tadashi Pharmacy farther up Joy Street.

"Hey, Hidehiko," Ayase said softly, moving up closer to him, letting the majority of the coat dip passed her back. She opened the gray St. Hermelin jacket and undid the top three buttons of the sweat-soaked cotton white button-up shirt.

Brown left the attention of his spear, resting in back on his shoulder as he did while they walked. "What's up, Ayase?"

She snuggled up close to him, raising her pouting mouth upward, breathing her hot breath on his neck. Brown was blushing, as Ayase aligned her frame with his, keeping her head up high, giving him an attentional view down her shirt.

"Can you carry my coats, pleeeaaassseee?" She cutely said.

"Y-y-y-your c-c-c-c-coats?"

"Uh-huh, my coats. If you do I'll give you a kiss."

"Really?" Brown exclaimed eagerly.

"Yep and all you have to do is carry my stuff. Can you please? You're strong and handsome!"

"Glad you finally notice!" Brown's ego was stroked and was now standing at attention, like a soldier. "Sure! Bring on the clothes!" Ayase threw her blue and gray coats in Brown's face, over his back.

"Thanks, sucker!" Ayase pranced forward.

"Hey, wait!"

"Would you two horny dumb-asses, hurry up?" Reiji yelled back. "The punk gave us an order! Let's get it done before we get heatstroke in here!"

Naoya grunted as the five stepped under the sun-roof of Rosa Candida and stepped inside, irritated that the humidity was still abundant in the clothing store. "_This is unnaturally hot! Joy Street usually has air conditioning running, why the hell is it so hot and…what the hell happened to Rosa Candida?_"

Naoya was a bit off putted by the strobe lights beaming down on their heads, the shelves lined with chain mails, armor plates, and pricey leather shoes, the manikins weren't manikins, but three distraught and manic men with red and purple afros wearing the merchandise, the manikins were behind the register, decorated with eyes, earrings, and wigs, moving their segment jointed limbs like robots.

"Man…these guys must've lost a killer bet." Masao commented, whistling at one of them dressed in a plated leather jacket.

Maki titled her head. "That's odd, the manikins usually have the shift for clothing wear at the Sun Mall. I wonder why they're working the counter here."

"Maki, this is a common occurrence?" Naoya asked, still disconcerted.

"Of course, Nao-kun. You mean in your world your manikins don't run your clothing stores?"

"Sonomora, don't be absurd." Kei said. "Todo, may we take our leave now. I've glanced at the prices everything is out of our range. The cheapest piece of armor for all nine of us would cost well over the total amount."

"I'm with Kei, Naoya. Let's ditch this place. I'm getting freaked out." Yukino stated, clutching her shoulders, trying to ignore the constant pulling weight of the ammunition on her back.

"_If we can't afford the armor, let's try to restock on ammunition._" Naoya thought, fiddling with his earring. "Let's go to the Yin & Yen. We have ten minutes."

On the way out, Yukino threw the duffel bag at Masao who barely caught. "Not cool, Yukino!"

"I'm sick of carrying that thing! My back hurts like hell!"

"Why do I have to carry it?"

"Because Brown isn't here?"

Naoya laughed. "Deal with it for a ten minutes, Mark."

"Yeah, Masao-kun, the weight will do you good." Maki added.

"May I remind you both, now I'm hefting the duffel bag of ammunition and my own supplies! That's a killer on the back!"

"Masao, carry the bag!"

"Why don't you carry the bag for your girlfriend, rich boy!"

Kei was struck, blushed for a moment.

Yukino sighed. She thought to change the subject. "Damn! It is hot!" She unzipped her school jacket realizing she hadn't taken it off for the past two days. "What I'd kill for my street clothes."

"I hear ya, Yukino!" Naoya said. "_This Joy Street…has this…this heated air is musty…it's like a scent of lust is on the wind, I don't know how I can tell this, but this atmosphere is has to be effecting us, I can feel it. We have to get out of her as soon as possible._"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Reiji and Eriko left the Tadashi Pharmacy, the catchy jingle blocked from their ears at the shut of the door. Brown and Ayase exited the Esumi Clinic across the way.

"Old man Tadashi wasn't in." Reiji explained. He held up a medicine bottle filled with capsules.

"We did manage to find some of the medicine Reiji had obtained from the demons previously." Eriko said, untying her ascot. "Yuka, did you and Brown finding anything in the clinic?"

"Nope! Like, it's completely vacant, not a single thing to snag either."

Brown shamefully kept Ayase's coats over his shoulder just in-case she'd own up to her promise. "I need fresh air! I feel like I'm choking!" Brown bolted to the swinging doors that acted as the exit to Joy Street.

"Brown, the air out there isn't gonna be much thinner!" Eriko called.

Brown reached the doors. He vanished into thin air.

Eriko put her hand over her mouth. "Oh my! Where'd he go?"

Brown's groan of pain and the sound of him landing on the floor could be heard. Reiji moved to the center of the intersection and looked down the left side of the horizontal section. Brown was sprawled on the floor.

"What the hell are you going, ass-hat!" Reiji yelled.

Brown dusted himself off, picking up his weapons and Ayase's clothes. "When I touched the doors, I felt a push and poof I'm here." Brown yelled back.

"Blondie," Reiji pointed to Ayase. "Get your ass to the doors!"

Ayase grimaced. "Like, fine, don't have to be such a prick!" Ayase cavorted to the pinnacle of the 't', touching the door, vanishing as Brown did.

Reiji turned to look at Brown who was standing at the back end of the right. Ayase appeared above him. "AHHHHH!" She shrieked, pushing down her skirt as she fell onto Brown. "OWWW!"

There Ayase sat on Brown's chest, her coats thrown upward and laid on his face. "Come on! After I kick major ass thirty minutes ago, I'm getting owned left and right!"

"Pipe down, Ass-hat! You and Blondie get up here! If we can't reach the exit, most likely means we can't reach the entrance. In lame-man's terms, we're trapped, plain an simple. Where's the punk?"

"Our fifteen minutes is up, Reiji." Eriko said.

"Like, hold on! There's a shop back here!" Ayase screamed. "It's, like, called The Velvet Room!"

Reiji face palmed. "Holy fuck, I can't believe she can be this stupid." He said under his breath. "Just get up here, goddamn it! We'll consult the punk and the others at Peace Diner and deal with this situation, because if we're stuck, that Expel Mirror might be able to get us out."

"What if the magic of the mirror can't remove this enchantment on the door?" Eriko asked. "It clearly was set-up to stop people who approached the only way out and in. Joy Street was a box trap and the bait at the same time, and we took it without a choice, meaning we're the prey to the hunter. Questions is whose the one behind this?"

"It's Kandori! Who else?" Reiji snapped.

"Why would Kandori take the trouble to trap us, why not kill us out right?"

"None of you get how that bastard works! He likes to watch people squirm! He wants to play with us before he kills us!"

"If he went through the trouble of trapping the only way to his location, then why not send another one of his guardians to kill us, like he did last time."

"He realized he can't attack directly! He has to do it indirectly! Throwing his full force at us won't bring us down, he's adapting to our plans, he's locked us up, isolated us. He's letting us stew and weaken and then he'll blow us away to get rid of us!"

"We can finish the discussion with Nao. He and the others are coming out of Sennen Mannen-Do. Peace Diner's hasn't been searched yet and The Velvet Room has materialized her, meaning Philemon and Igor must know what's going on. They want to help us."

"Let's regroup and pick this back up when everyone else is clued in. I don't need to go through the same spiel with Four Eyes and Inaba."

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"_Yin & Yen and Sennen Mannen-Do yielded nothing, a weird dude in a gas mask sold Mark specialized shotgun shells, he dubbed Angel Killers and Kei bought his hand mirror the talking statuettes said would repel magical attacks thrown at all of us. Honestly, even having experienced it first hand, this seems like a total crock of shit. Seriously, what the hell? This really isn't our Joy Street, this is a bizarro-Joy Street for bizarro-Mikage. I can feel the lust in the air again and can feel the flow of where's it coming from._" Naoya starred at the circular, yellow smiling face, winking at him erected on the archway of the door to Peace Diner in between the bold, white words. "_It's coming from here. All right I can almost see wisps of pheromones…_"

"Brave leader,"

"N.T."

"Punk,"

Naoya saw the rapid approach of Reiji, Eriko, Brown, and Ayase. "Did the Clinic or Pharmacy have medical supplies?"

"Had jack-shit, not important, we're trapped." Reiji stated.

"Hold up! What do you mean we're trapped?"

"Well, brave leader, it goes…" Eriko explained the situation of the doorway warping away those who go near it. Reiji had Brown demonstrate on the entrance and even stole the Expel Mirror from Masao's bag to try to disperse the enchantment to no avail, because he was warped away at his attempt to leave following shining the mirror on the doorway. Finally, she tied up the story with the abrupt appearance of The Velvet Room.

"All right, we're trapped, not much we can do standing here." Naoya said. "We'll go to The Velvet Room in a minute, Peace Diner hasn't been search yet."

Naoya pushed open the door and the nine entered.

"Ugh…what's this foreboding?" Kei asked.

"It smells like piss and booze." Reiji stated covering his mouth and nose. "It's like the windows haven't been opened in a month."

"Nao, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Masao asked, a little afraid.

"Unfortunately, Mark, I do." Naoya replied.

"So, you're seeing a bunch of drunk afro-men and women decorated with moles, gambling and drinking themselves into a stupor?"

As Masao had stated, there were indeed many men and women with Technicolor afros standing about the diamond imprinted floor, standing at the wooden round tables, a can or glass of their choice of beer and a deck of cards and poker chips scattered on the table-top. There were four tables two men to each table. On the left side of the room were the classic posters and pictures frames for the Diner were, they were replaced with stuffed and mounted demon heads like they were hunted moose or deer. What the ladies were admiring on the wall of death while they gulped down red and white wine from their cocktail glasses with fake moles dotted on their faces, where two pictures side-by-side. One was a painted white gate and the other was a twisted mess of black and a lone figure of a woman standing in the center. The first was finely detailed and the second was a splash upon splash of paint. At the back of the Diner where the cashier and kitchen were was replaced by a single suave man with a goatee and mustache, wearing a smoking jacket, while smoking a cigar.

"What…the…hell?" Brown stammered. "Looks like you don't have to buy the all-you-can-eat just yet, N.T., Masao."

"Damn it, Brown, I'd hoped you forget about the bet we made on Persona." Masao cursed.

A pink-afroed man noticed them. "Heh, looks like we got some fresh faces. I bet they're clueless…YES! A straight!"

The man he was playing against, the red-afroed man spoke. "We must look sad to you, huh? Yep…the Harem Queen's our only salvation! HAH! Full house!"

An orange-afroed woman all the way in the back spoke next. "Teehee…I'm what you'll end up as. You'll see sooner or later!"

"Like, I don't want to end up a scrawny bitch!" Ayase stated.

A pink afroed woman with dozens of moles decorating her face, starring at the white gate painting at the corner of the left wall, heard Ayase and turned to the nine and spoke herself. "Huuuh? Are you guysh from outshide? Pishes me off…I remember…now…I remember the outshide…WAAAH! Argh! I wanna go outshide!"

"_She's clearly hammered. She's slurring her words._"

It was time for the man in the smoking jacket to put down his cigar and raise a shot glass he had poured whiskey in. "Now, now everyone! Let's all toast each other with our heads held high! We share a fate…what's the use of this bickering? None so long as we loyally serve our Harem Queen!"

"Harem Queen, huh? Funny shit," Reiji sarcastically said.

"I wonder what this Harem Queen is like?" Maki pondered, the picture catching her eye. "Wait, that's…mine…my painting…based on The Gates of Paradise…and…the other one is…I can't remember…it looks familiar."

"Uh, this sucks!" Masao complained. "We have to get outta here and go after Kandori."

Naoya opened his ears for a moment, seeing if the residences of this counterfeit Peace Diner inside this black market had more to say to them.

"*Burp* Yer painting'sh aweshome, Queen can I go home, now?" The pink afroed-woman was looking at the black painting now.

A drunken, downcast, green-haired woman was mumbling to herself, Naoya could barely hear her. "A labyrinth of sadness forgotten in the oubliette of time…Only alcohol dulls my suffering. Dammnit! That bitch! She took all the decent-looking men! I wanna go to the harem too!"

"Hey, you wanna meet the Harem Queen?" The pink afroed-man asked. "The entrance is right by the casino, down the right side, but I warn ya: you don't wanna piss her off!"

The red afroed-man threw in his two cents. "I'll tell you one thing…whatever you do, say nice things about the Queen's painting. If you don't…."

The orange-afroed woman had come up to criticize Ayase for calling her a scrawny bitch. At of the other two woman she had the most moles plastered to her face. "You're not going to wear moles? Wearing moles like the Queen is all the rage now?"

The cigar-smoking man announced to the nine, "No one may leave the market, in case you have not figured it out. Such is the decree of the Harem Queen, this market's mistress. You must make every effort to curry the Queen's favor."

"Let's go to her palace, Nao." Masao suggested. "We don't have time to waste playing along with this Queen's stupid rules."

"Masao-kun's right, Nao-kun!" Maki chimed in. "Let's go meet this Queen! We can ask her to let us out of here!"

"You two have a point, but we should consult The Velvet Room prior to storming her palace." Naoya lead them to the passageway that Brown and Ayase had been moved, seeing the large metallic doors with "Velvet Room" on the front. "_Igor has to clue us in to exactly what is going on. He's intelligent…he'll know the course of action we should take._"

The doors flung open and their subconscious was sucked in. They found themselves hearing the Aria of Souls, standing on the carpet of The Velvet Room, the singer and piano player hard at work. Igor resting in his arm-chair, his table and deck of cards set.

"My guests, Master Philemon said you would be paying me a visit. Hidehiko Brown, I see your Persona has grown and so have you. That is a grand achievement, you should be proud."

Brown rubbed the back of his arm. "Oh, shucks, I know."

Yukino knocked him over the head. "We don't need your ego swelling!"

Naoya stepped forward. "Igor, we're trapped in this black market…the residents here say they're ruled by this Harem Queen. We attempted to use the Expel Mirror on the spell she has on the doors to no effect. We know where she is, but I'm not sure how we're suppose to deal with it."

Igor folded his hands. "Yes, I see, my guests. Do not worry, this problem can be solved easy. It is your foe's doing surely, but you cannot escape here with the Expel Mirror. It is only used to remove barriers, you cannot expel this kind of spell. The area your heading to is called the Kama Palace, it is an underground labyrinth beneath this black market. You'll find the Harem Queen there according to my Master. He also request you take this with you." Igor waved his hand, a small white stone appeared on the table, small enough to fit in a palm with the words Emergency Exit scratched into it.

Naoya picked it up. It was weightless, he ran his fingertips on it; it felt as soft as powder snow. "What is this Igor?"

"Be careful with it, Naoya Todo. That is a Traesto Gem, you will need it if you hope to succeed with your task."

"What does it do or did Philemon not tell you that?"

Igor chuckled slightly. "Oh, no, Naoya Todo, this is a common demon item. You see the Kama Palace is a labyrinth that is under the control of this Harem Queen according to my Master. She can manipulate it in ways she see fit. When you reach the bottom, you may not be able to accurately find your way back to the surface. This is what the Traesto Gem is for. It is a very fragile jewel, when you are finished with the Harem Queen business, crush it in your hand, Naoya Todo, make sure your friends are close to you, and throw the dust over your heads. It will activate a Skill called Traesto and transport all in the dust back to the beginning of the Kama Palace."

Naoya smiled, sliding the Gem gently into his pants pocket. "Okay…that's all the information Philemon gave to you, Igor."

"Yes, Naoya Todo, all Master knew he was permitted to say and that is only due to you having discovered the existence of the Harem Queen on your own. If you had come to The Velvet Room before discovering her, I would not have been informed and therefore you would not have been informed."

"Your boss has a huge hard-on for rules, ya know." Reiji spit to the side.

"I am unfamiliar with that human saying, Reiji Kido. Perhaps you can elaborate for this old demon."

"Perhaps you can shove it and we can piss off." Reiji turned his back to Igor.

"Thank you, Igor." Naoya said.

"Oh, yes…by the way, Naoya Todo." Igor hissed. "I delivered your message to Master Philemon."

"What he have to say?"

"He said and I quote: 'Remember, Naoya Todo, motivation is the drive that keeps all who have become part of the Alignment Dog in their respected alignment. If you truly want to keep yourself in the Neutral Alignment, you must keep your drive, your motivation in mind a hundred percent of the time. I bid you good luck and Igor and I will offer the assistance we can to the limits and constraints of the rules.'"

"_Keep my friends in mind one hundred percent of the time_." Naoya repeated in his mind. "Got it, Igor. Thanks again. Tell him, I'll be sure to do that."

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"I AM GONNA LOSE IT IF WE CAN'T FIGURE OUT THE WAY TO GO!" Masao yelled to the top of his lungs which filled the narrow and bending corridors of the Kama Palace, all of which looked the same.

Leaving The Velvet Room, the nine had moved to the right side and where Judgment 1999 was suppose to be was a rusted sheet of a door, which lead to a downward staircase which lead to this intricate multi-floored, labyrinth known as the Kama Palace.

"You've all ready lost it, Mark." Naoya said. "_Then, again we have been going through this Kama Palace for over fifteen minutes. Every wall and corridor is the same and we been lost since we stepped onto this ninth floor. We managed to find this hole, like a laundry shoot that brought us to the seven floor from the third, but when we went down the one on the eight floor we ended up on the first, and then when we went down the one on the first we ended up on the fifth. This place is infuriating, added to the shoots, dead-ends sometimes turn out to be doorways. What sadistic architect design this dungeon? (A/N: Naoya says what we all thought when we played the Kama Palace.) How am I suppose to lead us properly if I can't understand where to go?_"

Eriko touched his shoulder, shocking him out of his thoughts. "Brave leader, I have an idea." She leaned closer to his ear. "You don't have to take on the entire burden."

Naoya let his shoulders hang. "You're right, Eriko. What's your idea?"

"We're at a forked path. I kept track of where we've been on the ninth floor, including the dead-ends and I checked the walls. We're down to two paths we can-"

"I'm not going to split us up, Eriko. Up there we knew where each other were. Down here is a another story. I'm not gonna put as in deliberate danger by separating us."

"I know, brave leader, that is not what my plan is."

"Then, what is the plan."

"The way to the stairs is the first path. I've noticed as we've been up and down the floors of this Kama Palace, that the paths that don't lead to dead-ends, lead to more forks in the road, there were at least four of those per floor."

"She's right, Todo. I observed that too. I was marking the numbers on the walls." Kei added, his broadsword in hand.

"How do you know the first path is the right path, Eriko-chan?" Maki asked.

"Yeah, I really don't want to fall into another one of those shoots and vomit my brains out because of motion-sickness again." Masao said. "Or better yet, go in a third circle around the floor, because everything looks the same!"

"I'm not fully sure the first path is correct. It still is a fifty-fifty chance, but one of them has to be either a dead-end, the staircase, or another shoot. There is not another way that leads to more forks." Eriko explained.

"Like, which way! Make up your mind! It's hotter down here than up there!" Ayase nagged.

Brown sat drawing circles in the dirt. "I'm starting to feel the boredom too, Ayase."

"Oh, would you two quit your moaning and help us pick a way?" Yukino scolded.

Reiji leaned on the wall, sighing.

"All of you, settle down!" Naoya exclaimed, causing silence. "I'll pick the path. I'll find us the way." Naoya shut his eyes. "_Like back at the surface I could sense the sexual charge on the wind, we have to be getting closer, the charge has to be thicker down this far. The green-haired woman said the Queen kept a harem to be relevant to her name. If I can sense the pheromones, the yearning in the air…_"

"_**Concentrate, keep your eyes shut. Feel the air on your skin, the sensation and reaction at the touch. You can derive the scent of her on the wind and differentiate it's feeling from the others.**_" A deep male voice instructed Naoya in his mind.

"_Brown told us about this…you're…_"

"_**Yes, I am you and since that is the case you can use my senses to locate this Harem Queen through the wind. Do as I said, concentrate and feel the difference.**_"

"_Why can I hear you_ now?"

"_**You'll come to realize why in time. It's difficult to** **explain**._"

"_All right, you're really helping me out right now so I'll wait for the explanation. I can feel the breathing of the others, my own breathing, the hot air of the atmosphere…wait! I can feel the sensation of lust, I can see it on the wind, almost smell it, hear the desire coming off it, all emanating from…_" Naoya pointed to the second passageway. "There! She's there!"

"_**You are correct. I can feel it as well.**_"

"Are you sure, Nao-kun? How do you know?"

"I just know, Maki. I can feel it. She's down there."

"Then, let's go dethrone this Queen and get outta this hellhole!" Masao exclaimed.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Naoya's choice was correct. The passage way had led to the staircase, which led to the tenth floor which was one room with dozens of well groomed men and women, the members of the harem, feeding each other grapes, drinking champagne, and prepared for the main festivities with each other.

"This is gross! Where's the Queen?" Maki looked disgusted.

The men and woman dismissed themselves at Maki's protest and went up the staircase, directing the nine of them to the single door in the room. "I assume she's in there then." Naoya waved all of them in, taking in more bizarre scenery.

Pillars with shackles and chains, piles of cushions, bowls of fruit, no lightning, checkerboard designs on the walls, murals of many naked men and women partaking in carnal acts such as the harem outside were attempting to mimic. In the corner of the room was a mirror as tall as six feet, a ornamental bat garnished at the top of the frame, the reflective surface, not casting anything in front of it, but darkness. Besides the mirror were the two paintings from Peace Diner. Maki's Gates of Paradise and the other one painted by the unknown artist, the mess of colors with the lone female figure in the center. Besides the paintings were life-sized statues of several men and women most of which with afros. At the center of the room standing on an oyster shell, wearing the skirt and jacket of St. Hermelin High was a girl as tall as Maki, her scarlet red hair the length of her back and the bangs curving inward under her eyes. Patches of huge, black moles crowded together on her forward and under her shadowed and make-upped eyes.

She pursed her red-painted lips and spoke directly to Maki. "Long time no see, Maki! Same to you Naoya and the rest of you! Welcome to my Palace!"

Maki gasped. "Chi…Chisato! Is that really you? No…!"

Masao shook his head. "Didn't Yosuke say she was captured by that brat, Aki? Hey, Nao, did Chisato used to have that many moles? Didn't she use to brag about how clear her skin was?"

"C'mon Chisato! There's an explanation for this right?" Maki asked, desperate for the reality to be wrong. "Is the real Queen threatening you? You're not really the enemy….that's a lie isn't it?" She was on the verge of tears.

The Harem Queen Chisato laughed. "You're such an idiot! Me, being threatened…utterly ridiculous!" He voice was nice and soft, but held an evil pierce to it. "I'm here because I chose to be! Isn't this Palace wonderful? An angel in black lent me this mirror that grants any wish!"

"_Angel in black? She must be talking about Aki._"

"All this…from my mirror!" Chisato gained a pleasure satisfied grin.

"An angel in black," Masao repeated as well. "Chisato, that's Aki! She ain't no angel! I mean didn't she kidnap you!"

"That's what I thought at first, but that's not how it went! She was looking for someone who could use the mirror…it happened to be me!"

"So you are the Queen." Maki admitted. "Isn't it about time you put an end to this? Let's go back together, Chisato! Yosuke's hurt! He needs you, Chisato…"

Chisato was surprised. "Yosuke…got hurt…?" She nodded and smiled. "Y'know what Maki, I don't need Yosuke anymore! He has you, he doesn't need me! I didn't really like him anyway!"

"Huh?" Maki questioned. "What did you just say? He has me…he doesn't need you? What are you saying?"

Chisato turned toward the mirror. "I don't like Yosuke. In fact, I never did."

"That's a lie!" Maki snapped. "You always bragged about how much a wonderful boyfriend he was…"

Chisato turned to Maki blind hatred in her glare. "What you still don't get it? Wow! You really are stupid! I started dating Yosuke because I knew you liked him! In the beginning, you know, he liked you better and I couldn't allow that! I mean, I was the pretty one! I'm the one he should have gone for! SO, I made my move and that feeble-minded moron was powerless to resist!"

"_Are the moles on Chisato's head growing? Is she growing more? Maki's…crying._"

Maki wiped the tears streaming down her rosy cheeks. "No…why would you joke like this?"

"It's no joke, Maki! It's the truth! My art was better than yours and you got all the attention!" Chisato pointed to the paintings, noting Maki's as the white gates and hers as the mess of black. "But I hated you even before that! I was always prettier and more talented than you! Why are you the one everyone fawns over?"

"So, that's why you initial stole Yosuke and made everyone praise your artwork." Kei explained.

"The only one who has never fallen for you is HIM!" Chisato pointed right at Naoya.

"Nao-kun,"

"Me! What are you talking about, Maki's like a sister to me, why would I fawn over her?"

"You're just as much as an idiot as she is, Naoya! Maki's has had a crush on you since elementary school! She always went on and on about how she wanted to marry her Nao-kun! You were the only one who wasn't blinded by her!"

"Chisato…you should be aware that this isn't the Maki you know!" Kei tried to explain.

"Shut up! This has nothing to do with you! Just stay out of this! You must've been howling with laughter, right, Maki? I bet you've made fun of me behind my back, wearing that innocent face of yours! Well, I won't let you do it to me anymore! I'm much better than you now!"

Masao gritted his teeth. "Sure, thanks to the power Aki gave you. Right?"

"I SAID SHUT UP! Naoya…isn't my painting wonderful?" Chisato tone lowered to a softer and seductive voice. "Everyone says so. They all say it's much better than Maki's piece of trash! Don't you agree, don't you love it…like you love me!"

"_Of course! Wait, no! What the hell is happening? Can't…think…straight! Chisato…Harem Queen…only thing I can….think about!_" Naoya grabbed the sides of his head.

Maki fell to her knees, tears falling. "Chisato…hated me that much, I never knew…"

Masao rushed to her side to comfort her. "Now I know why your arts so crappy! You're rotten through and through! A girl like you could never make real art! Quit fooling yourself into thinking you're a real artist!"

"You were so caught in the throes of envy over Maki, you never made a real effort." Kei added. "And this where it brought you…forcibly enslaving people. You think this is you at your best? You're a queen with no clothes! You're deluding yourself if you think their praise means anything! They only humor your out of terror! You're no Queen! You're a Tyrant!"

"Isn't my painting beautiful Naoya, don't you want to take me right now in this very room with everyone watching us…my big, strong Nao-kun." Chisato kept saying softly.

"_Yes…no…yes…yes….no! Damn it!_" Naoya's lips opened, his tongue and teeth pronouncing the words. "Yes…your majesty…" Naoya's pupils dilated and turned a light pink. He walked to Chisato's side, who kissed him on the cheek. "_What's happening? Why can't I move my body?_"

"Good boy, Nao-kun! So, Nanjo, you call me a Queen with no clothes? A tyrant? Look at what I've done! I swoon over the only one who wasn't blind to Maki's lies! He's under my Marin Karin! My charm has taken him and I won't let go! He'll be my Nao-kun forever, Maki! Not yours!"

Maki continued to cry, Masao held her tight. "You…Chisato! Give Naoya back! I can't stand the way you hurt Maki because of your stupid complex! I'll say this as many times as it takes! YOUR PAINTING SUCKS!"

"_No, Mark, you'll only make her angrier! I don't know what she'll do!_"

"I think you need to have another look! If you can't grasp my artwork, you're the ones who are wrong!" Chisato spun to her mirror. "MIRROR MIRROR, CLEAN AND BRIGHT! GET THESE FOOLS OUT OF MY SIGHT! ERUSAER TSYMMOM!"

"_NO! Everyone watch out! You can't stop her!_"

The mirror's glass shined and blasted a white light that consumed all, but Naoya and Chisato. As the light faded, Naoya's friends had disappeared, removed from the Queen's sight.

Chisato planted a peck on Naoya's neck. "They won't bother us for awhile, my Nao-kun. I arranged the labyrinth in a new pattern. They won't be able to navigate it as easy as last time and I'm deploying my special ladies to deal with them on the way. It will just be us for a long time. I going to make Maki want to die for what she did to me!"

"_Awesome, I'm stuck her with the psycho bitch who wants to take advantage of me, while everyone else has to combat the maze and a demon guardian without me. I'm not sure whose in the worse situation._"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

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><p>Well, a little bit longer than I wanted, but whatever. Had to extend the deadline a couple of days, but it's done. The next chapter won't be as long, because it's mostly all action and to be fare, I don't like the beginning or the middle of this chapter, but nothing much I can do. I love the ending and for the record by popular demand I'm trying to only have one point of view for each chapter. I'll try and make it work. For those who've played the game they know how irritating the Kama Palace is, but they'd also know that Naoya isn't exactly put under a Marin Karin when you meet Chisato the first time, I just figured it spice-up the subplot a bit and make writing the next chapter which centers around Kei a lot easier to handle. Either way, I hoped you enjoy Chapter 13 of Persona: Be Your True Mind, and I'll see you next for Chapter Fourteen: Black Market Part 2: Norn.<p> 


	14. Chapter 14: Black Market Part 2: Norn

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything._

SLIGHT FILLER AND SHOE-HORNED CHAPTER AHEAD! On the note after last chapter, I'm hoping this one turns out better. Now, I know, I've been tiptoeing around the concept of the Personas talking to the users and how they're each other and shit, like how Naoya could feel the wind like Seimen Kongo controlled it, I derive most of the Persona characteristics from Stands from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, which I could argue Atlus ripped-off, but that's besides the point, I rushed the last chapter which is why I shouldn't give myself a deadline, but at the same time if I don't, I wouldn't get anything done. So, I'm sure by the time this goes up there might be confusion, I'll get to the explanation of the implication of the Personas having a voice and the whole speaking and listen later, like Chapter 20, just bare with my fan-non for now, just like the insertion of the Alignments, the Ssuling, and two or three more upcoming demons that is a plot device I used for the novelization. For those who've played the game, they know the boss that's in this chapter is not in the actual game, just consider it major foreshadowing for the next novelization. Though for those who check my profile would know already that I'm planning on doing novelizations of Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Persona 3 and Persona 4, a quadrilogy of novelizations for the site. With that aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind Chapter Fourteen.

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><p><em>Chapter Fourteen: Black Market Part 2: Norn<em>

Kei saw the mess Chisato called a painting before his eyes. The smell of urine and alcohol passed his nostrils. "_We've been sent back to Peace Diner…with Todo at Chisato's mercy. She's clever, isolate us from our leader and she'd have us fall apart. I will not allow it._"

The smoking-jacket, cigar smoking man clapped. "That was fast! I was betting on at least an hour!"

Maki was curled up into a ball, her knees to her chest, sobbing. "Chisato…Naoya…"

Masao burst in anger, kicking the wall heavily. "Shit! Shit! SHIT!" He chucked the duffel bag of ammo to the ground. "Chisato…we can't leave Nao alone with her."

Eriko agreed, checking to see if Brown and Ayase were conscious. They both were sprawled across each other on the floor of Peace Diner.

"_Sonomura has broken down. Masao is taking his rage out on the environment. Uesugi and Ayase are unconscious. Kirishima is watching over them. Kido is leaning against the wall. Yukino! Where's Yukino?_"

Yukino rose from up behind Kei, startling him. "Wow, Chisato has become a real bitch with that mirror."

"Uh, yes…I agree." Kei stammered.

"She has Nao-kun…" Maki feebly said.

"We have to get him back!" Masao burst. "We have no idea what she could be doing to him right now!"

"If we want to do something, we shouldn't be standing, flapping our gums." Reiji stated. "If we want to rescue the punk and take care of that bitch, we need to hurry back down there."

"Kido has a point." Kei said, instructing Eriko and Masao to carry Ayase and Brown on their backs while Yukino was to take on the duffel bag again. "Running in half-cocked isn't necessarily the most superb idea. Add to the fact the Kama Palace has most likely been changed as Igor stated. Also added to the fact that Todo was the one who aimed us in the proper direction the first run-through. We'll need to use every fiber of our brains and intellect to guide ourselves to Chisato's chambers again."

Reiji grinned. "I assume you intend on leading us, Four-Eyes while the punk is getting felt up by the bitch."

"No, Kido, I don't assume." Kei's eyes narrowed. "I am." He stated with a definite edge.

Reiji ceased his smiling. "Fine, I was hoping to take the reigns, but I'll give you chance. See how well the second banana runs the show."

"_Second banana! How dare he refer to me as such! I am the heir of the Nanjo Group! I will be the number one man in Japan! I promised Yamaoka!_"

Kei shrugged. "If that is what you wish to think of me as Kido, then what does that make you; even lower than second-in-command, a grunt perhaps."

Reiji scowled. "Nice one, Four Eyes! Just leads us, the bitch probably has his fly down by now!" Reiji walked out, Eriko and Masao carry Brown and Ayase alongside him.

Kei glared at the floor, noticing Maki still curled up into a ball. "_Am I truly second-in-command? I'm the brains of this group! The one…who…devises the plans. No that's Todo. Todo leads, but he's completely incompetent. Why haven't I been more up-front with this. Surely, everyone recognizes me as smartest. If that's the case, why am I not the leader? Why is Todo the one everyone looks for guidance? I'm the one who deduces and explains the logic. I'm the one who can derive the reason from the mystery. I'm the one who can defeat the demons in instants…which often never effects Kandori's guards…and Todo often puts me in a defensive post with him exceedingly capable of implausibly versatile offense._"

Yukino came abreast to him. "Kei, I'll take care of Maki. She's probably really hurt right now."

"Uh…yes…Yukino…go ahead."

"Nao-kun…Chisato…why?" Maki mumbled.

Yukino went to her side and helped her up and slowly moved her to the exit.

"_Yukino believes I can lead us. I know she does. The others…maybe I'm being to naïve. They don't find me to be the smartest. After berating Uesugi with insults and calling him a nuisance, they probably thought of me as a nuisance. Breaking down and growing hysterical at Yamaoka's death, refusing to leave the hospital until Masao snapped me out of my mindset, leaving him to the Ukobach, instigating Uesugi to Chaos…they don't like me as much as they don't like Uesugi._" At Kei's realization, his stomach sunk. "_Not Yukino…she can't…she despises Uesugi as much as I do…she can't hate me. No…she can't possibly…then again…she never says much about me…we talk…occasionally…but…does she honestly like me…just as a person…she has too. Does she…?_"

A stray tear rolled down Kei's cheek, he wiped it away with his neckerchief as quick as possible. "_No…no more tears. I promised myself after Yamaoka's death. I can't show weakness…I can't let my name be embarrassed by my expression of sadness. I have to be adamant…I have to be the leader. I'll prove to the infidel and that cur Kido that I am capable of being the leader. I'm thrice as great as Todo in all parameters. I can control myself, I'm not afraid to make a move. He's a scared pup and I'm the prideful lion. I'll show them! I'll show all of them!_"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Chisato knelt at Naoya's feet, his eyes still dilated a light pink. He was minus his school jacket, button-up shirt, MP5 and Katana, all of which cast aside. Chisato was currently removing his pants.

"Oh, Nao-kun, you'll love this…you're the one for me…the one who never fell for Maki's tricks. I'll savor you for as long as I rule as Harem Queen. My Marin Karin will wear off eventually, but my mirror will make you mine forever." Her mirror flashed, attracting her attention. "I see you're friends have enter the Kama Palace again, all ready on the eight floor, should've moved that shoot a bit farther. Doesn't matter; the Moirae Sisters are in place…what's this?" The mirror flashed again. "Yosuke…he's in the market…he's injured, but he's okay." She paused, her face covered with a disproportionate amount of crowds of moles, a hint of relief, but replaced it with rage. "He's entering the maze…wonder how he figured the situation out so fast. Should I let him run into the Moirae Sisters and they'll kill him…no…I'll arrange the maze again to give him a straight shot to me. I'll give him my special punishment! He'll regret being fooled by Maki's innocent demeanor!"

Chisato removed Naoya's pants, leaving him in his briefs. "Back to you, Nao-kun." She had the sinful smile of a succubus.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Kei kept following the bending path of the brownish walls of the Kama Palace. "_Good progress, Ayase and Uesugi have regained consciousness, we managed to reach the ninth floor without too much trouble. This is where we were stuck last time._"

Eriko was twiddling her thumps. "I hope Nao is okay and that harlot hasn't sexually abused him."

"Kirishima, keep count of the forks and paths leading to forks, like I instructed!" Kei snapped.

Yukino kept by Maki's side. "Don't worry, Maki. Everything will be all right."

Masao shoved his hands in his pockets, still angry that Chisato had hurt Maki and took his best friend. He walked by Kei, starting up a conversation that he'd been meaning to for awhile.

"Yo, Nanjo," Masao called.

"_What could he want?_" Kei thought annoyed. "Yes, Masao?"

"I know it's really late to say, but thanks."

"Thanks for what?" Kei said unwavering in his solid monotone speak.

"For calling me by my name; you know back before the incident at the hospital when you called me monkey and ape and shit like that."

"Yes, you're reasoning behind this?"

"I just wanted to say thanks, Nanjo." Masao offered his hand. "I still don't like ya that much, especially when you ditched me at the police station, but that day when you were crying over the old butler's showed me your not as bad as I originally thought. Don't make much of what I'm saying, just know I appreciate you using my name for a change."

Kei hesitantly shook Masao's hand. "You're…welcome." Kei returned his hand, Masao moving back to Maki and Yukino.

"_That was odd for him to say such things. He appreciates me using his name for a change, not calling him monkey or ape. That…idiot._" Kei sighed. "_He doesn't understand he's the one who earned my respect to have me use his name. He…realized I was not as bad as he original thought…when Yamaoka died. Is it because I cried or because he talked me out of writing myself for dead with Yamaoka? Masao Inaba, you're a fool…a kind-hearted fool…who refuses to leave his friends behind. He was content with saving Sonomura, content with saving Todo, and was content with saving me. For a fool, you really know how to open my eyes with your words every time Masao Inaba. Maybe you aren't as bad as __**I**__ original thought either._"

Kei wanted to turn to Masao and say that he appreciated Masao saving him from himself back in the hospital, but kept looking forward, not wanting to show weakness, he had to be resolute, show he could lead them.

"_Kido won't find error in me! I refuse to be outranked by him! I refuse to have my presence minimized by Todo! He guided us in the correct direction on this floor, I'll do the same!_"

Kei halted, causing everyone else to as well. They path had opened into a area as wide as Peace Diner. He could see the descending staircase twelve feet ahead. "_This is too straightforward, the previous final staircase was desperately hidden to protect Chisato's chambers. We stumbled upon this one with ease. It's a trap, I can sense it. What is does she have planned for us?_"

Masao blood had started to boil at the appearance of the staircase. "All right, let's storm Chisato's throne and get Nao back!"

"Hold on, Masao!" Kei raised his hand. " 'Everything comes to he who waits.' Chisato wouldn't let us invade her room twice. She has to have guards for this staircase."

"The boy has found us out! How interesting!" A mature female voice screeched from thin-air.

A swirl of the wind in the air, put everyone on their toes as three women emerged to block the staircase.

The one on the farthest right up to the wall stood a woman dressed in a skin-tight bodysuit of striped white latex. Her feet were bare and her hands covered with black gloves. Around her waist was a gray cloth that was the length of her legs and hugged her hips, leaving a parting line at her pelvis. Her face was a sickly yellow, her pupils and iris matching. Her hair was a bundle of braids and buns covering the sides of her head with the buns and forming a pseudo-crown with the braids of blonde. On the fronts of the hanging buns of hair besides her bean-shaped head were dashes of green. She raised her right hand, holding a roll of thread that was stretching to the next woman who had appeared.

The woman crouching in the middle, touching and caressing the thread spread in front of her was almost an exact duplicate. Her skin-tight suit was red latex. A cloak of the same gray fabric was draped over her shoulders and the corners attached to the tops of her breasts. Her face, eyes were the same shape and color. Her feet still bare and her hands covered by gloves. Her hair was mostly styled similarly, but the braids were roped around the peak bundle of blond hair twice and them arched over to the length and radius of a circle. The fronts of her buns were dashed in magenta. She felt the wire with her fingers which kept on trailing down to the last woman who had appeared.

The last woman bared the same style of clothing as the other two, wearing a black rendition of the suit, bare feet, and gloves over her hands. The thread was clutched in one hand and in the other was a golden pair of scissors. Coning her head from her shoulders to four feet above her scalp was the gray fabric cloth. He was sickly skin and eyes were shadowed, but her blonde hair could clearly be seen in the darkness. The buns and mounds had made a peak for her cranium with the surface of the peak dyed a teal blue.

Kei kept his stance, broadsword in his right hand and his left hovering over his breast pocket, his fingers lightly touching Yamaoka's glasses. "_I had almost forgotten your glasses were with me Yamaoka. Now, what are these strange femme fatale characters?_"

"Identify yourselves or step aside, demons!" Kei order, readying his weapon as everyone else did.

"Demons," The one in white repeated in a young voice, spinning the roller and casting six more lines of thread to shoot across to the next women.

"Do not put us on the level of such horrid creatures, mortals." The one in red said in a mature voice, touching and stroking each line as they approached the final one in black.

"We are goddesses of old and our duty is to serve the Harem Queen." The final one in black said in a elderly voice, clutching the ends of the seven lines of threads in her left hand as her right snipped at the air with the golden scissors.

"_Goddess? Mustn't let my shock show. If they are goddess then by Philemon's word conventional arms will not harm them. How do we deal with this? Todo surely couldn't have come up with a plan by now. It's up to me and my superior intellect to. I simply have to distract them as I culminate the plan._"

"If you are goddesses of old, then tell us your names!" Kei ordered again. "I'd like to observe your powers at work before I believe what you say as fact! If you do not, we'll move you out of our way!"

White snickered. "Do not play us for fools child."

Red laughed. "Those armaments you hold cannot due us detriment."

Black heartily chuckled. "By saying you shall move us is a mere jest."

Kei started to sweat. "_They won't acknowledge a bluff that easy. How can we deal with this? They haven't named themselves. I'm losing the battle of the mind and with them claiming to be goddesses I've all ready lost the battle of the ground._"

"Identify yourselves I said!" Kei yelled.

The three remained silent, smirking at the eight.

"Enough stalling!" Kei had become desperate and clearly the three liked watching him squirm.

"_If they do not choose to reveal their names, I'll do it for them…_" Kei turned to Eriko. "KIRISHIMA! INFORMATION, THESE THREE, NOW!"

Eriko eyed each thoroughly.

"_Kirishima's vast knowledge of the occult and mythology has to be able to deduce who these three are. See, Kido, I am a competent leader. Using the abilities of my subordinates as resources to aid the situation is a key tactic in being a leader, Todo would never think to utilize this strategy._"

"Kirishima, who are they!"

Eriko glowered. "I'm not exactly sure, Nanjo…but the thread and their actions can indicate they are the Fates of Greek mythology consisting of Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos."

"Ah, yes, the girl has found our names." The one in white stated. "I am indeed Clotho, the youngest sister and Weaver of the Thread!"

"Deriving us from such picayune details is impressive, girl." The one in red commented. "I am indeed Lachesis, the middle sister and Measurer of the Thread!"

"It is saddening that the one who appears to be the leader could not derive it himself." The one in black added. "I am indeed Atropos, the eldest sister and Cutter of the Thread!"

"They are the Moirae Sisters." Eriko informed. "They are goddesses of destiny and fate. Clotho sees the birth of life, Lachesis sees to the past, present, and future, and Atropos sees to the death when it is time."

"The Fates of Greek mythology? It's said in myths that they could read the future not only for mortals but for the gods themselves and the words they spoke were inescapable." Kei added.

"Why yes, lad, we are." Clotho said.

"The Harem Queen has asked of our services to deal with you." Lachesis added.

"You eight will see your future as predicted by your own threads of life and just as suddenly as you saw these futures, they will be whisked away." Atropos concluded.

"_Read our future and take it away. Interesting method, not sure how effective it would be to kill us with._"

Kei lowered his broadsword. "Lower your weapons, we have no chance to damage them with these. Firearms as well. If you three, the Moirae Sisters believe you can end our lives by predicting our futures, go ahead. I warn you, we will pass you and reach the stairs. I guarantee it,"

Clotho spun her roller, causing the seven threads to dither in synchronization. "Bluffs and feign confidence will not defeat us, lad."

Lachesis let the motioning wires brushing the leathery material of her cloves, her knuckles slightly twitching at each contact. "Our predictions are law as you shall see."

Atropos fervently snipped just before the end of the threads. "Revel in your individual futures and let death embrace you."

"_What is this haze? The area is fogging? Lachesis…is measuring the length of the thread…it's glowing…the haze is broadcasting…images!_"

A fog had conjured up from the earth and consumed the Fates. They could be seen through the translucent barrier and the threads proceeded to glow a fern green. Clotho let the reel let out thread that appeared to be endless but never extended the all ready stretched length. Lachesis measured the thread as it kept extending. Atropos admired her scissors as she clutched the threads, waiting for her turn.

"These weaved threads of life belong to those in this arrangement Masao Inaba, Hidehiko Uesugi, Eriko Kirishima, Yuka Ayase, Reiji Kido, Yukino Mayuzumi, and Kei Nanjo! The brown-haired girl does not have one! I can see your births except for the brown-haired one." Clotho announced to the middle sister.

"_Sonomura doesn't have a thread of life! Is it because she's of this counterfeit world! If that's the case-_"

"I can see your pasts, presents, and your futures! You shall see and I shall speak! Pay close attention to the mist!" Lachesis exclaimed, touching the top most thread, the fog create an array of images. Everyone felt locked in place, unable to move and unable to speak.

"Masao Inaba, in your future, I see the big city, the ocean, and art." The fog displayed swift images of an sky view of an city that appeared to be New York, a boat on the blue sea, and graffiti of crowns on canvas.

"Hidehiko Uesugi, in your future, I see a tragic woman in your sights and a name up in lights." The fog displayed the image of a woman's face. Her skin was wrinkled, loose, and pale. Her cheek bones were profound, her lips painted, her hair a blackish blue with faded gray, her eyes were a frightening darkish yellow, one of which covered by her back-length hair.

"Eriko Kirishima, in your future, I see romance, travel, and an important poem!" The fog displayed hearts, an airplane, and a rough-looking blonde-hair man, with a fierce expression writing line after line on a piece of paper.

"Yuka Ayase, in your future, I see a deeper care for others and a deeper respect for yourself." The fog displayed images of Eriko and Brown and then several images of Ayase.

"Reiji Kido, in your future, I see change and…an offspring." Images of Reiji dressed in a suit and his hair covering his scar and a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes were shown.

"Yukino Mayuzumi, in your future, I see love, new friends, and even loss." A split image of Kei and an older man with shaggy black locks framing his face with hazel eyes was displayed, following that was a series of fast paced images everyone could barely see: images of two girls with blonde and black hair and images of three boys with black, blue, and red hair. Two of them seemed to wear similar uniforms as did another two with one lone girl wearing an ordinary outfit.

"Lastly, Kei Nanjo, in your future, I see love, searching, and achievement." The fog played the last images of the predictions. Yukino starting off the final chain, following with Kei sitting on a motorcycle at the entrance to an abandoned factory, and finishing with a number one imprinted on the back of his leather jacket.

The fog dispersed and the eight regained there ability to move, but Lachesis spoke out suddenly as she read the threads all at the same time. "You all...I can see all eight of you in a battle...together...a great battle."

(A/N: I would appreciate those who have actually played Persona 2 to not spoil anything mentioned in these visions in the reviews. I'd like to keep them a mystery for those who haven't played the game.)

"Art?"

"A girl?"

"Romance?"

"Like, what?"

"A kid? You friggin' kiddin' me?"

"Love and loss?"

"Love, achievement…" Kei repeated sullenly. "_Love…does that mean Yukino doesn't hate me? Achievement…does that mean…I become the number one in Japan!_"

"As you can see, your future has been shown." Clotho said.

"You and your friends cannot harm us still, Kei Nanjo." Lachesis added.

"Now embrace death from the power our Queen has granted us with her mirror!" Atropos exclaimed.

"What are they doing?" Kei asked as they grouped together and were swallowed in a column of light. "_Is this how they planned to kill us? Wait, my train of thought before was cut off by Lachesis. This Maki is from the counterfeit world. Chances are this is why she doesn't have a thread of life._" Kei glanced at Yukino who was readying her shotgun and razor blades. "_Yukino, her shotgun! The Ssu-Ling of the Chinese mythology! I'm thinking about it in the opposite way, instead of thinking with Maki, think of the goddesses! The Ssu-Ling are gods as well, created by Kandori with the Deva System or perhaps by Aki's mysterious magical abilities and given power for him to use at his services!_"

Kei steady his weapon and charged at the merging Moirae Sisters."_Back in the S.E.B.E.C. Building when Byakko attacked our weapons hurt him! Yukino blew his brains out! If mortal arms damaged him, then he isn't gifted with the immunity like Philemon is! That Byakko wasn't the real god and if he was created by the same means that the Fates our! They can be killed with this sword!_"

"KEI! WATCH OUT!" Yukino yelled.

The column burst and in replacement of the Fates was a lone levitating figure: a clock with silver hands and letters and a black face. It had three gold maidens encircling it's frame, each blank of features and expressions, each with long flowing hair, robes, and ribbons as part of the statue, an angel wing protruding from each of their backs following in a clockwise position. The highest maiden set above the twelve was sitting on the frame, looking forward with her wing pointing downward at the next maiden who had her back arched around the frame of the clock from the nine to the six, looking downward with her wing on an inward angle, and the last maiden appeared to be standing with her back to the edge of the clock near the three, facing out to the right, and her wing angled upward back to the first maiden.

Kei was in reach of striking the new arrival, but the hands spun and landed in the four o'clock position. The females voices of the Fates calling out at once. "Unmei no Kaze (A/N)!" At the settling of the hour, minute, and second hands, Kei was blown back by a burst of air pressure and then thrown into the dirt floor. The wind was picking up and surrounding him in a close cornered box of pressure.

The hands spun again stopping at the four o'clock position. "Unmei no Kiri (A/N)!" As Kei stood against the pressure, baring his teeth, and propping himself with his broadsword the wind picked up and surrounded the section of the room with him and the combination of the Fates in the previous haze that had predicted the Persona-Users futures which acted as a blockade against intrusions between Norn and Kei.

"KEI!" Yukino called concerned.

"NANJO!" Masao also called.

Kei looked up at the newly merged Fates, being a few feet from swords reach. "What have you become now?"

"This is the gift our Queen has given us! We are no longer Moirae the Fates! We are Norn, the Goddesses of Fate!"

"_Damn it all! They've become one with the help of Chisato! That doesn't change anything! All I have to do is attack them! They aren't immortal! They can die! I don't care if I'm trapped! I'm not going to be on the sidelines like Todo always puts me! For now I'm the leader and I'll be damned if a leader stands on the sidelines! He faces the enemy head-on without fear! I'll show them! I'll show Kido!_"

Kei in a fury rushed Norn with his broadsword. "Unmei no Kaze!" As the hands stopped at four, Kei had just reached Norn, but was shot backwards into the Unemi no Kiri. The haze aggressively threw him back onto the ground, Yamaoka's glasses leaving his breast pocket. They laid in between him and Norn. Kei noticed as he struggled to stand.

"_Yamaoka's glasses_…"

"Unmei no Kaze!" The air pressured pounded into Kei, pushing him into a crouching and then kneeling position. "Those spectacles, you became white as a ghost when they left your person! What is so important about them?"

Kei groaned at the increasing pressure on his body. "Touch them bitch and I'll kill you where you stand!" He retorted with utmost malice.

"Do they belong to that butler we often saw in your past when your thread was read? They must! They are larger than the ones you're wearing!"

Kei attempted to standing, but the Unmei no Kaze locked him down. He was incapable of moving a muscle as he was when the future was predicted. "_SHIT! I can't move! The others can't approach! I'm going to die without even landing a single blow. I'm sorry Yamaoka._"

"What would you do, Kei Nanjo, if I destroyed those glasses, right now?"

Kei's eyes widen and his jaw clicked. He fought against the weight and stood up with one leg, his other planted on the ground with his knee. "Don't you dare!"

"What is this I'm feeling? This memory is stirring in the Unmei no Kiri! It must be reacting to you, Kei Nanjo! Why don't you watch? Relive your past one last time before we kill you and your friends for our Queen!"

"What?" Everyone asked as the haze spun and began to showcase, as stated by Norn, a memory from Kei's past.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"Father, look! I received a hundred on my exam!" A young Kei Nanjo said to his father and mother during their Saturday brunch.

Mr. Nanjo waved it off. "Yes, Kei, that is good. Off with you now."

"Why don't you go to room, honey, back to your studies." Mrs. Nanjo suggested.

Kei turned the corner of his mansion out to the hallway, the test crumbled in his hand, a depressed expression on his face. He sat on the grand staircase to the second floor, chucking the crumbled ball of a test behind him, the one hundred in red printed ink visible on the ball.

Kei kicked the stair below him. He was sadden. No matter how perfect his scores were, no matter how hard he tried, his father would never acknowledge it and his mother would send him away at any time of day or night during any day of the week. His father not once had said, "That's my boy, Kei! You shall make the finest heir to the Nanjo Group yet!" or "I'm proud of you, son! You have the knowledge and the brain to lead and carry on this company's glory beyond its limits!" For the twelve years of his life he chased for the attention and recognition of his father who often and always spoke of how he would become the next head of the Nanjo Group when his father passed away. Growing with this concept in his mind, he wanted to feel worthy of being the heir, worthy of taking his family's company and leading it into his generation.

"Ah, Young Master Kei is this yours."

Kei turn his head, seeing his loyal butler Yamaoka standing on the staircase, adjusting his spectacles and reading the un-crumbled paper. "Yes, it is Yamaoka, and I told you to stopped calling me young master."

Yamaoka stepped down the stairs and sat beside his young master, showing the paper to him. "You did very well, Young Master Kei. A perfect score, you should be proud of yourself."

"What does it matter, Yamaoka? If Father doesn't care why should I?"

"Young Master, my family has served yours for a number of years now. When I was your age I lived in this house with my father. He was your grandfather's butler. My father never praised me for anything I had ever achieved, knowing full well I would become a humble butler to the Nanjo Family and what I did would never prove to be important. Similar case to you, Young Master. I beg to disagree with him."

Yamaoka stepped down one stair and looked at his Young Master in the eyes. "I've served your father for over twenty years, Young Master Kei. I watched him grow and I'll watch you grow as well. Your father is raising you as your grandfather raised him, with a cold heart and hard exterior."

"Where are you going with this, Yamaoka?"

The loyal butler lightly patted his Young Master's shoulders and smiled. "Young Master Kei, you father cares, he may not show it, but you are his son and I am sure he loves you."

"Don't lie to me, Yamaoka!" Kei glared. "I heard Mother talking with Grandmother. I'm just the next offspring of the Nanjo bloodline. To be next leader for the Nanjo Group was the only reason I was born. Grandfather said once to Father I wouldn't be half as good as he was as the head of the Nanjo Group and you know what, Yamaoka, Father agreed with him. I try my hardest and Father will never see me as true heir to this family's legacy!" Kei's eyes were watering, he gently sobbed, turning away from Yamaoka and wiping them away quickly, trying to remove his weakness.

"It's all right to cry, Young Master Kei. Real men show their emotions, it's what makes them strong. I know you will be a strong man, Young Master. I've seen all your scores, your determination, your hard work. I know you can take your family company farther than ever. With your heart, Young Master Kei, I know you can achieve greatness. You'll show yourself and your father, you can be number one in Japan with the Nanjo Group. I know you will."

"Do you really mean that, Yamaoka?"

The old man smiled. "Of course, Young Master. I'm mean it as much as I say to you I'm proud to serve you and I'm proud to call you my Master, the heir to the Nanjo Group and the strong man who will become the number one business man in Japan. I will always be by your side, Young Master Kei. I will always be there for you to serve you and I will always be proud of you. Do you know why, Young Master Kei?"

"Why?"

"We are the same, Young Master Kei, and I care about you more than anything in the world."

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Kei somberly remained quit, tears dripping from his eyes, wetting the floor. "Yamaoka,"

"Well that was lame! So much for being by your side always! He's dead! We saw it! Such a pathetic old man!" Norn taunted.

Kei shot up, tears still on his cheeks, the air pressure not bothering him. A blue aura had erupted and wrapped around him in a flaming burst. "If you insult Yamaoka one more time, I'll show you no mercy!" Kei picked up his loyal butler's glasses.

"The way he died was pathetic too! Killed without a struggle, died in your arms, telling you to fulfill your dream! How generic!"

"DAMN YOU!" Kei charged. "YAMAOKA WAS A GREAT MAN! HE WAS MORE THAN MY BUTLER! HE WAS MY FRIEND!"

The hands proceeded to spin. Kei stabbed his broadsword deep into the center of the clock, shatter glass and breaking metal. "HE WASN'T PATHETIC! HE ALWAYS WAS THERE FOR ME! HE ALWAYS GAVE ME PRAISE! ME AND HIM WERE ALIKE! HE ALWAYS CARED! HE WAS MORE A FATHER TO ME THAN MY ACTUAL FATHER! MY MOVE!"

Kei slashed his broadsword to the right, tearing into Norn straight through to the second maiden statue, the velvet blue aura intensifying. "_Yamaoka even in death, you'll always be with me! Give me strength! I'll lead us to victory! I'll use my knowledge and my heart to be number one!_" Kei bellowed with all his strength. "**PERSONA!**"

A shatter of glass was heard in Kei's mind. "_**Thou art I and I am thou! Thou hast proven thyself worthy of the powers of Hierophant! Thou hast had a revelation of the heart and demonstrated education, authority, and relationship with the divine. Thou hast earned your Ultimate Hierophant! Aizen Myouou hast become Yamaoka, The Loyal Butler of the Nanjo Family!**_**"**

Aizen Myouou hovered above Norn in his purple latex. His stilleto fingers cracked and shattered as he tore away his suit, removing each piece of latex clothing, revealing an elderly man dressed in a butler's outfit, complete with suit jacket and squared handkerchief in breast pocket. In his white gloved hands was a white bo staff, protruding from his back were cybernetic angel wings shaped similar to a butterfly's. His curved, finely polished shoes stood on a hover-board lined with solar panels and ending with tail fins. In replacement to his glasses was a cybernetic visor across his eyes, directly above his gray moustache, plated with orange glass, segmented into squares. His her hair slicked back and above his head was a holy halo of pure yellow light.

"Yamaoka!"

"How? He's dead!" Norn exclaimed.

Kei grabbed at his butler's glasses. "_You were always with me, Yamaoka. You're here with me now as my battle companion. We are the same aren't we that is why you're my Ultimate Hierophant, my Persona._"

"_**Yes…Master Kei.**_ _**I promised I will always be by your side and to serve you always and I will. Now, let us end this.**_"

Kei nodded, grinning, hearing a word echoing in his mind. "**YAMAOKA! SAMSARA!**"

Yamaoka spun his new-found staff and pointed it towards Norn. Hundreds of sutras flew out from underneath Norn and from Yamaoka's staff as he flew around her with his hover-board at high speeds. The sutras and talismans closely and tightly ensnared and covered every single-inch of the merged Fates. Four larges square columns appeared underneath Norn in the four directions: North, Sound, East, West. They were marked with the words Birth, Life, Death, Rebirth, Reincarnation. They beamed with the light of heaven, mixing together into a giant crater of light underneath the trapped Norn. The crater expanded and shot upwards at high speed engulfing the whole goddesses in a comet of Hama power that burned away at her with it's acidic wash and bathe of light until nothing remained.

The Unmei no Kiri dissipated at the defeat of it's wielder and Kei stood there, Yamaoka gone and his broadsword on his back. He was still crying. In his mind his Aizen Myouou card Igor predicted his Arcana with turned into Yamaoka sitting on his hover-board, his staff leisurely resting on his right shoulder.

Yukino approached him, everyone staying back and not saying a word at what they had seen along with Kei…except for Brown. "Nanjo, what's up with jacking my style?"

"Uh…Kei," Yukino said.

"Yes," He replied.

"Um, I know it's probably not the best time to say this especially after seeing a real personal memory from the past…"

"_Here it comes…even if they predicted our futures. There was another man in Yukino's._"

"I appreciate you."

"W-w-w-what? You appreciate me? Why?"

"Well, you saved our lives right now. You're really smart, you were able to figure out every mystery we've encounter so far, you have a strong heart. I mean you've been able to stay with us and follow-through with everything we've done even with the death of the most important person in your life with you. And…you're a…" Yukino blushed. "A true hierophant and a nice guy."

Kei blushed with her. "_She doesn't hate me? I'm a nice guy…with a strong heart. She appreciates me._"

"What brought this so suddenly, Yukino?"

"I don't know, Kei. I could just…you know…feel something was up with you…like some inner turmoil or something like that. You seemed so commanding, like you were trying to prove to Reiji you were best suited for leader and then I remembered that your not liked by over half of us…so I decided to…say what I feel. Don't think I'm weird or any-"

"I would never think your weird, Yukino. For the record, I appreciate you for you kind words, your kind heart, and…for being you."

"Yo, love birds! Are we going to save Nao or just sit here listening to your awkward banter!" Masao exclaimed.

"Yes, ahem, let us proceed."

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

A/N: Winds of Fate, Mist of Fate

I hate this chapter. I hate it with a fiery passion. I've now realized who the MOST DIFFICULT character to write for is. Originally I thought it was Ayase, but no it's Kei. I just can't grip his personality, it's probably because he's meant to be the voice of the protagonist in the game, you know explaining the story and shit. You can really tell this chapter was shoe-horned in and overall my own filler. I liked my concept of foreshadowing to Persona 2, but I hate everything else. The description of the goddesses, the flash back, the inner thoughts. I can't feel Kei's character and I'd tried my best to make it make sense why Yamaoka is Kei's Ultimate Person, because they're the same and that shit, but if I get negative reviews for this chapter, I wouldn't be surprised, this is easily my worst chapter at of the whole story, then again my self-esteem is ridiculously low so I could be over thinking that this is crap, but that's probably not likely. Whatever I should just stick to source material and not add a lot of pointless additions, but the problem with that is that the actual bosses in the game that act as guardians which I replaced with the Ssu-Ling are craptastical and aren't interesting our useful to work with at all. Then with the Black Market if this wasn't here, we would've went from trapped to Harem Queen to warped back to the top floor back down to Harem Queen, plus she's called the HAREM Queen wouldn't there be a lady oriented boss fight. It sounded cool and made sense in my brain and I'm rambling now. Either way, I can't say I hope you enjoyed this chapter, because I didn't and I'll see you next time for Chapter 15: Black Market Part 3: Chisato.


	15. Chapter 15: Black Market Part 3: Chisato

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything._

Okay, my competence and confidence…and self-esteem are high for this chapter, because not only is it a conclusion to one of my favorite parts of the game, but the key perspective here is Masao, my favorite character overall. I have a very firm and nice grasp on his personality, I can write well for him, and I have this chapter deeply planned even though it's only three scenes. Also HALFWAY mark of fic hit. Like I said after this we're going to be rolling easy for four chapters at least. That being said, I have planned those chapters and the first three are mostly story and comic relief, then when we hit the fourth chapter we're going to be skyrocketing with action and story into the endgame basically. Didn't expect to be there this early, huh? Well that's how the game is, but playing the game is no where near as quick if you're reading this because I cut out basically 97% of all dungeons and enemy encounters, essentially stream-lining the game with story and bosses only which is most likely going to be the formula for the P2: Innocent Sin dungeons, but those are more unique than P1's so I still need to plan those out. Currently I don't even have a chapter list done for P2 or P3. By the end of this, I should have those done, but not all the chapters fully planned. Regardless, I should be able to jump into both relatively fine at the end of this after a break, of course. Then, again, I'm getting way ahead of myself. With that aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind Chapter Fifteen.

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><p><em>Chapter Fifteen: Black Market Part 3: Chisato<br>_

Masao stood, axe in hand, knuckles white, his friends at his sides, Kei in front, at the entrance to Chisato's throne room. A door was placed in the threshold they walked in earlier, painted with the Harem Queen's wretched mess of black she called art. Just glancing at it made Masao's blood boil, just knowing his best friend was trapped beyond that door at the mercy of such a pretentious and insecure girl made him want to hack away at any demon in his sights. It didn't matter. They were there and they'll save Naoya.

"_I've got your back, Nao! I always will!_" Masao kept a blank face, trying to keep his anger and disconcertion controlled which is something he was usually unable to do. His face betrayed him in the end, no matter how hard he tried. "Let's go!" He bellowed.

"Masao, hold on!" Kei threw his arm in front of Masao, closing the gates for the galloping horse. "I told you at Peace Diner. We cannot run in there halfcocked. We'd be fighting a losing battle if we do not fully understand Chisato's power."

"Perhaps she could send us away again and put us in a infinite loop of back-and-forth." Eriko suggested.

"I don't care Nanjo! I'm not gonna sit here and leave Naoya to Chisato while we think over what she can and can't do! We bust in, we take her out, we save Nao!" Masao snapped, waving his axe.

"Masao-kun!" Maki shrieked. "You can't…just…kill…Chisato-chan…" She sniveled, tears welling-up again.

Masao's outburst subsided, looking at Maki, stepping closer to her. Her head was lowered, her bangs covering her crying eyes. "I…don't want…anyone…to die…"

"Oh, shut up!" Reiji venomously spat, harshly grabbing her by the arm, much to Maki's and Masao's surprise. "How the hell do you think we're gonna end this? We have to kill Kandori or else this won't be over! In order to kill Kandori we have to kill this bitch! What don't you understand about that? I'm sick and tired of hearing you whine!"

Masao gnashed his teeth. "Reiji, you son of bitch! Let her go!"

"And you!" Reiji raised his fist to Masao, then pointed his index finger austerely at him. "My patience has run thin with your excessive bullshit of going on and on about the punk, Inaba! If you feel so strongly about saving him, then, buck up and fucking do it! Hell, even Four-Eyes was able to do that and his Persona evolved out of it!"

Reiji released Maki's arm, leaning his back to the wall, crossing his own arms. Maki went to Masao, he wrapped around her tightly, taking in Reiji's words.

"And if you won't kill her, Inaba. Bres and I will. One Mudo Skill and we're home free to b-line for Kandori's fortress."

"Masao-kun…please…don't kill Chisato…" Maki kept weeping into his shoulder as he lugubriously stared into the gray of her uniform and the brown of hair.

"_C-c-c-can I do this…I'm dead-set on saving Nao, but…is it possible to talk Chisato out of this. Can we beat her or Kandori without killing them? This hadn't crossed my mind this whole journey. I figured Nao would make the decision when the time came, but he isn't here and it isn't his decision. This must be what he felt like back in S.E.B.E.C. during the fight with Takeda and when he had to choose between the switches. Thinking everything over is a real pain in the ass and I'm not honestly sure what Alignment I'm in right now nor can I decide on what I can do. Even if this Maki next to me isn't the Maki I know I can't…kill the real Chisato…I can't make Maki cry anymore…I won't, even if she isn't our Maki._"

Masao smiled, patting Maki on the shoulder as he lightly pushed her from his grasp, making his ruling on the matter. "Don't worry, Maki," He whispered with the softest of voice. "I'll get us through this. Remember…Nao and I always know the best and worst times to pick a fight and now is the worst time."

Maki spread her lips and rosy cheeks as she matched Masao's smile. Masao nodded and turn to Kei, having rectified his misplacement of ideas.

"Are you ready to strategize, Masao?" Kei asked.

"Yep, Nanjo. Make it as quick as possible." Masao tucked away his axe, no longer requiring it. "_Chisato, for Maki's sake, Nao's sake, probably Yosuke's sake too, if Nanjo and Reiji won't, I'll get you out of her and save Nao even if I have to drag you out of her kicking and screaming. Kandori…you bastard…you're life isn't my choice, it's Nao's. I leave it to him as soon as he's back._"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

They entered, greeted with the garish décor that was presented to them before. Naoya stood up on Chisato's shell, fully clothed and his katana sheathed and submachine gun at his heels. His pupils were still pink. Naoya was mostly unchanged but the Harem Queen standing next to him was different. Her face was beaming with moles, a larger number than the last time, awkwardly protruding from her paling cheeks and forehead.

"Ugh! Not again! More moles!" Chisato huddled close to Naoya. "Oh, Nao-kun, this mirror is great, but I hate how I get more moles every time I make a wish!"

Masao's sweat dropped. "_So, she's just gonna ignore us._" Masao cleared his throat. "Chisato!"

Chisato was startled, leaning away from Naoya. "Ah, you're all here all ready! Well if you managed to make it pass my special ladies you must have been really impressed! Tell me! What did you think? Wasn't my painting better?" Her face was rapturously contorted, eager to hear that her work of art was supreme.

"Plan A: talk her down is go," Masao whispered. "Maki…"

Maki stepped ahead of Masao, to his left, who was leading the pack. "Chisato…just end this already…" She paused for a moment. "I know your paintings are better than mine. And…your moles…" Maki tried to be as courteous and complimentary as she could, but the Tyrannical Queen was not having it.

Chisato's face crunched up in a pit of rage, her moles pulsating as her recently re-painted lips curled inward and her eyes narrowed. She fiercely bit down on her lower lip, her teeth drawing blood. "SHUT UP, MAKI! Don't say things you don't mean and don't YOU ever dare patronize ME! You probably think I deserve these moles!"

Maki grabbed her arms, turning away.

"_Shit, plan A's done and Chisato's pissed. What are we gonna do now? If I can't talk her down, Reiji's gonna off her himself! I can't let that happen!_"

"Chisato!" Masao yelled again.

"Settle down, Masao! I want to show you all something!" She waved her hand to her right, casting a spotlight on Maki's Gates of Paradise painting and her own Harem Queen painting.

"My, my painting!" Maki stammered, seeing her pearly white gates illustrated on the canvas behind the stray life-sized, human-like stone statues.

"Alright, Nao-kun, you first!" Chisato looked to the captured leader. "Which do you like more? My masterpiece or Maki's smear of filth on canvas?"

Masao snarled. "_How dare she insult Maki's painting? She put all her heart into that work! She painted it with all the inspiration from her favorite book: The Gates of Paradise! Come on, Naoya! Show me you're in there! Say Maki's is better! Don't let Chisato pull the strings!_"

Masao's best friend opened his mouth, his tongue clicking. "Your," His voice stuttered, his mouth closing tightly.

Masao grinned. "_He's in there! Come on, say hers sucks and Maki's rocks, Nao!_"

Chisato glared at Naoya, wrapping her arm tightly across his body. "Marin Karin," She whispered, her mirror glowing bright for a moment and another blotch of moles sprouting at the bridge of her nose. Naoya's pink pupils pulsed for a moment. "Nao-kun, tell me…which is better?"

The leader's mouth opened wide and accurately pronounced and stated, "Yours is better, your majesty."

"Good boy, Nao-kun, you get another kiss!" Chisato pecked his cheek.

Masao frowned. "_He was there! Chisato keeps the charm on him, we'll have to break it. Somehow,_"

"Now, your turn!"

Masao stomped his foot. "M-"

"Masao, stick to the plan!" Kei ordered.

"Like, to me…" Ayase said aloud. "Maki's is, like, totally better than yours Chisato!"

"Yuka…no!" Eriko gasped.

"You where suppose to complement her, Ayase!" Brown exclaimed, crouching and covering his head, preparing for the shit-storm.

"You damned air-head!" Yukino shouted.

Reiji face-palmed. "Oh, fuck this!" He threw an uppercut in the air, a scarlet mist rising at his feet. "Hell yeah!"

Chisato erupted at Ayase's comment. "HOW DARE YOU!" She darted her eyes to her mirror. "MIRROR WHERE MY FACE IS SHOWN, TURN THESE MONKEYS INTO STONE! ERUSAER TYSMMOM!"

A patch of moles grew from Chisato's forehead and her mirror glared, firing a blast of white light.

"Maki!" Masao grabbed at her and threw him and her backwards to the other side of the room, the light barely touching her shoes. The mirror's blast had consumed the others in a instant, dissipating afterwards.

"Whoa!" Masao exclaimed, regaining his stance with Maki.

"What in all the hells-" Kei snapped as his body progressively changed texture and structure, gaining a stone-gray, becoming as stiff and immovable as a statute.

"Stop this, Chisato!" Maki begged.

The Harem Queen responded with laughter. "You all turn to stone!"

"You're shitting me!" Reiji cursed as his arms were frozen in the position he held them in, completely turned to statue stone.

"This can't be happening!" Brown cried as he realized he could no longer move any part of his body below his neck, stuck in the defensive position he put himself in.

"Like, why me!" Ayase's entire lower jaw was turning to stone.

"We're in this situation because of you, dumb ass!" Yukino insult right before the stretching gray configuration to her body reached up to her ears.

"Oh, brave leader…" Eriko weakly said, wanting to reach her arm out to Naoya, unable to, wanting to strike with her rapier at Chisato's legs, but unable to. With both of her arms trapped in space at her sides, the stone completely taken over, finely trapping her sadden expression and hung low head as a human-like statues on par with the others in the corner of the room.

"AHAHAHAHAHA!" Chisato laughed none stop until she saw her reflection in her mirror. "UGH! DAMMIT! Even more moles!" She glared at Masao and Maki. "And you two got away! Turning you eight to stone was too nice! I should've made you suffer more!"

"_Shit! Everyone's a statue except me and Maki! Chisato's pissed beyond her limit! Those afroed dudes over there…they must've been from the market! They were turned to stone for not liking her painting too! I don't know if we can make it out of this! I have to get a plan together and fast._"

"Masao-kun…" Maki weakly spoke, causing Chisato to laugh again.

"Maki…" Masao's eyes broaden and he greatly gasped. "You're…"

Maki was turning to stone, the crawling streaks and stretches of the gray, transfiguring ever curve, ever inch, ever shape and figure of her petite being. It slowly slinked up her limbs, her legs stuck firmly planted beside each other and her arms bent inward, her hands grabbing her chest. "I guess I didn't escape it in time, Masao-kun."

"Maki! Hold on! I'll think of something, just don't turn to stone!" Masao was desperate, the girl her cared for, even if she wasn't truly the one he knew, was turning into a statue before his eyes and he wasn't sure what he could do on his own.

"Masao-kun…" The stone crept up the back of her head, turning her hair first. "Please…" Her forehead followed. "Save…" The frame of her face was next, leaving the area around her mouth free. "Chisato…" Her closed mouth met the overpowering spell, shutting and becoming a perfect line for her statue.

"No!" Masao fell to his knees. "_Nao…Maki…everyone…there gone…because of Chisato! I have to save Maki and Nao! I have to stop Chisato! I won't let her break a bond I've shared for three years. They're too important to me to let them be her playthings and I won't die or become one of her toys!_"

Naoya's eyes twitched into a somber gaze and the pink soon pulsed again, realigning them into a blank stare.

"I'll give you one last chance, to save yourself, Masao! Which is better? My breathtaking painting or Maki's piece! I want an honest answer!"

Masao stood back to his feet. "MAKI'S PAINTING IS A MILLION TIMES BETTER THAN YOURS!"

Chisato cringed. "You have big balls, to say that in your situation, Masao! You can turn to stone like the rest!" She turned to her mirror yet again.

There was a white flash. "Yeesh, you're still at it!" A young girl's voice spoke.

Masao spun around. "Aki!" The devilish littler girl dressed in pure black was swinging her legs back in forth in midair.

"Hey, monkey boy! Ook ook eek eek!"

"You brat!"

"Anyways, Queenie, Daddy says if you kill these guys I can fix your face!" Aki stated to Chisato.

Chisato showed a major sign of mitigation. "Really? All right, I'll do it!"

"I'll be back when they're all gone! Bye bye, monkey boy! Have fun! Erusaer Tysmmom!" At Aki's chant she vanished in a flash of light.

"Damn it, Aki! Get back her!" Masao shouted.

"If that is what Miss Angel wants, then the plan has changed." Chisato said. She eyed Naoya. "You know, if Nao-kun carries this sword with him he must be proficient with it."

"What are you getting at Chisato?"

"You and him are best friends too aren't you, Masao?"

"Of course!"

"Then, I have the perfect way to finish you off, Masao! You who was eternally blinded by Maki's lies! You'll die by the hands of your best friends in front of the girl you love!"

"What?" Masao gulped. "_Nao, kill me, in front of Maki…what is she talking about? Nao would never…_"

"Nao-kun! Sword!" Chisato ordered, his pupils pulsing.

Naoya drew his katana from the sheath on the back of his waist.

Chisato extender her hand forward. "Kill him, Nao-kun! KILL MASAO INABA!"

Naoya jumped high up from the shell, swinging the katana in a downward slash with both hands. Masao fumbled backwards, falling to the ground as the blade narrowly missed him. Naoya rose up high and heaved his weapon with him.

"_Nao's trying to kill me? Damn you, Chisato!_" Masao quickly stood and evaded Naoya's oncoming stroke. "Come on, Nao! You don't wanna kill me!"

Naoya fixed his angle and swung in a half-circle to his right at where Masao dodged. Mark ducked and then jumped backwards a foot to avoid the follow-up slash downward.

"Don't let Chisato's bull take your mind, dude!" Masao swung his bag to his hip, fishing into it and retrieving his hatchet. "_Guess I'll need you after all._" He chucked his bag at Maki's stone feet.

"It's futile, Masao! He's under my Marin Karin! The charm will last forever as long as I live! You can't break it!"

"You're full of shit, Chisato!" Masao put his axe forward and Naoya's random stroke was blocked on the edge of his weapon. "Nao's my friend and I know him almost as well as Maki does! He isn't a coward whose afraid to do what's right! He isn't a person who'd lay down and watch his friends die!"

"How can you be sure of this, Masao? From the looks of it, he's trying hard to kill you!"

Naoya's katana grinded off Masao's axe. Masao was pushed back slightly. "_Shit! Backs at the wall!_"

Naoya thrust at Masao's head, who stepped to the left and danced around Naoya's back. The tip of the katana pierced the wall, causing Naoya to have to pull it out.

"You don't know him at all, Chisato. Nao, Maki, and I have been friends for three years straight. I might not have known him as long as Maki, but he's my best friend, and the only guy I'd trust to watch my back and he knows I'd do the same for him!"

Naoya slashed another half-circle chop behind him, Masao already backing up in anticipation. Naoya charged, unleashing a barrage of strokes that Masao blocked with his hatchet as the shield.

"You're bond of friendship is as useless as your strives to break my Marin Karin! You're fate is sealed Masao! So is Maki's, so are all your friends! I win, so shut up and die with your puny bond! Nao-kun, kill him! NOW! AHAHAHAHA!"

Chisato's hearty laughter filled the room once again, Naoya's blinking pink eyes going at a rapid pace. His strokes became more intense, heavier with a grander amount of weight and force that shoved Masao at every connection against his grinded weapon. Naoya levered his weapon and bashed away Masao's to the left, opening his guard. Naoya followed through with a horizontal slash across Masao's chest.

"AH!" Masao stumbled into Kei's stone shoulder, the rim and sleeves of his jacket cut with his shirt and bleeding gash traveling rib to rib. "_So, that's what the demons feel when I hit em' with my axe. Good to know…gotta keep that pain in mind._"

"You see, Masao! Your bond means nothing to my Nao-kun! He is mine! Not Maki's! Not yours! Not anyone's but the Harem Queen!"

Naoya kept his katana readied and so did Masao. They locked stares, Naoya's empty and Masao's determined.

"I'll show you, Chisato! My voice will reach Nao! Our bond is profound! It isn't brittle!"

Naoya struck at Masao, who shielded with his axe yet again. "_I'll save you, Nao! I promise myself! I won't let what happened back in middle school mean nothing!_"

The faint memory floated in the back of Masao's brain as he guarded against the controlled Naoya's strikes. It was a memory of three years ago, of a time were Masao, Naoya, Maki and their friends were in middle school. It was in a time were the Mikage streets weren't vacant at midday and small gangs roamed them until the MPD cleaned them up three years later in 2006. (A/N) It was a time were Masao Inaba had not met Naoya Todo until that one day after class.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

The day of school ended, the cloudless, serene sky and warming, blinding sun beckoning the middle school student body out the doors. Masao Inaba wandered through the gates with the other students, watching and keeping a keen eye out for Mikage Police Department's Lieutenant Oda known to Masao as Lieutenant Baldy who often attempted to stop him from expressing himself with his artwork.

Oda was a friend of the Inaba family and kept Masao in place and away from jail. Masao was usually let off as long as he washed the graffiti he sprayed, but if Oda caught him with the spray paint or in the process of tagging, he'd force Masao to clean until it was spotless or even until the sun had set.

Masao traveled down the street, observing other citizens of Mikage driving and parking, some jogging on the sidewalks, others taking care of their yards or lawns, a handful of kids playing in the open space of grasses, knowing they'd soon be called inside near midday due to the minor rise of gang activity that the MPD did all in their power to suppress. Masao shrugged. He enjoyed using reality as inspiration because no matter where you look you'd find something. It could be interesting, sketchy, romantic, depressing, terrifying, or stimulating depending on your point of view. To Masao Inaba it was inspiration all the same.

Masao had walked two blocks without seeing an inch of Oda. He decided to head along the alleyways, adjusting his raggedy yellow baseball capt to cover the whole of his bushy reddish hair. "_I have to shave this hair one of these days._" he thought, searching for the right alley to cut across to the subway station, each passage blended into the exact same image overtime: two concrete walls, tarnished aluminum trashcans, and aged, greased, and noxiously smelling dumpsters.

"_Not this one, I think it's the next one._" Masao wanted to whistle to pass the time as he approached the alley he had to use. Just as he was about to blow the inhaled air, a booming crash and a pounding sound of something hitting the concrete crossed his ears. "_What the hell?_"

"Should've just given us the money, Todo! Now, you're gonna lose more then your wallet!" A rugged boy's voice yelled from Masao's selected alley.

"Dude, chill! You'll kill the poor bastard!" A scared boy's voice commented.

"That's the plan! He didn't pay up! He'll pay us in blood! That's how it works!"

The pounding and crashing continued, but Masao could now hear the tiniest grunts of pain after each clash on the concrete. He clenched his fists. "_Goddamn, punks!_" He peeked down the alley. Three street-clothed, bowl-cut boys at the height of five feet and the age of sixteen were standing over and stomping and kicking into a fallen and ground-laid student wearing the same black khakis and jacket Masao was. They were planting the soles of their cleats not only into the weaken students defending arms, but a stray stomp or two reach his torso and face, bashing his entire body against the concrete wall of one of the buildings. "_Really valorous, dickheads! Three-on-one is completely fair!_" He sarcastically thought.

Masao un-slung his backpack, stuffed with spray paint cans, drawing utensils, and notebooks. "_Let's even the odds!_" Masao spun into the entrance, letting his weighted bag fly from his hands and through the air.

"Heads up, ass-clowns!"

"What?" The punk the closet to the right gasped as the bag bowled him over face first.

The other two were distracted by the thrown yellow bag, they didn't notice Masao charging forward.

"There's more where that came from!" He landed a hard right jab to the middle punk's nose, breaking it. The strength of Masao's punch knocked the punk into the final one, who caught him. Masao took advantage of his misplaced hands and connected a left cross to the third one's temple.

"Crap! Let's get out of here!" The middle punk ordered, his nose gushing blood, whilst he and his two buddies absconded.

Masao spat to the side and then crouched down to make eye-contact with the beaten student. His hair wavy and ebony and one earring in his ear. He was motionless, muddy foot prints trailing his sleeves and shirt, several cuts and bruises on his face. Masao offered his hand and the student accepted.

"They sure did a number on ya." Masao stating, pulling him up.

The student dusted himself off with his weak and stomped arms and fiddled with his earring. "Thanks…for…saving….me…" He said, halting in between words as if he wasn't used to talking to others.

Masao shrugged. "Eh? It was no problem, just did what I thought was right." He raised up his palm. "By the way, name's Masao Inaba, others call me Mark."

The student hesitated to speak, but raised his palm up to Masao's. "Naoya Todo…nice to meet you Masao."

Masao smacked their hands together in a high-five. "Dude, don't be so formal. Just call me Mark and how bout I call you Nao."

Naoya cringed. "Uh…I'm not sure…Masao." He stammered.

"Come on, Nao! It's short and sweet and stop being so formal. Just call me Mark."

Naoya lowered his head in defeat "Okay…Mark."

"All right!" Masao felt a little accomplished. "We go to the same school, right? Let's head back and see if we catch the nurse before she leaves."

Masao helped Naoya backed to the school grounds learning on his way out of school, he decided use the alley as a shortcut to reach Joy Street. He was heading towards the arcade and that's when the three of them jumped him. At the school, Masao dropped him off with the nurse, who was thankfully in and she went to bandage and clean his cuts and ice his bruises. Masao decided to stay with him for the half-an-hour he was there, the day and sun progressively climaxing. As much as he wanted to leave, it was the right thing to do to stay.

"_So, much for tagging today. Oh, screw it! It's no big deal. A human life is more important than my artwork._"

Naoya was let out of the nurse's office and the two went outside back to the school's gates, ready to part ways. "How you feelin', Nao?"

"Fine. The nurse said I should go to the clinic to see if I broke any bones."

"If you're moving your arms you're set. Anyway, I'll catch ya later." Masao ran out of the gates, Naoya's words in the background.

"Thanks again, Mark!"

Masao kept his pace. "_Ma and Oda will give me shit if I don't get home before sunset. The last thing I need is them on my ass more than the already are._"

Despite his knowledge that the alleys weren't safe, Masao did not want a shorter leash and curfew from Oda and his mother for coming home late. His home was on the other side and he had no time to go around. There were two stray pedestrians on the other side of the street and Masao had this feeling that he was being followed. It didn't matter, he was blinded to only wanting to get home and nothing else. He snapped the turn into the alley, surprised by a sudden figure creeping out from the shadow of the dumpster. It was the punk Masao broke the nose of!

Masao halted. "_Not this guy again._" His back was struck and he was pushed into a lunge forward. The two boys across the way had attacked him from behind. "_This must_ _have been how they caught now. It's a pincer!_" The two punks had pushed him into a lung into a heavy haymaker of the broken nose punk who was wearing brass knuckles. Masao felt the immense attack on his jaw, the power of the blow shifting his posture and causing him to brush his shoulder and back roughly into the wall.

"Circle this bastard! Fuck him up! He ain't getting away with breakin' my nose!"

The three instantly enclosed any escape Masao had and began an onslaught of hammering kicks to his defensive arms and his open chest. "You've got some fuckin' nerve! Stepping into my alley after breaking my nose! Didn't think you were stupid enough to come back!"

"_Damn it! GAH! UG! UG! AGH!_" Masao body was showered with the unremitting kicks and slams of the soles of the cleats. His back jumping at each blow into the concrete.

"Not so tough now are ya! This'll teach ya to get a cheap shot in! Whose the ass-clown now?"

"Holy shit! Just shut up already!" Masao yelled and received a punch with the brass knuckles.

"You shut up! I'm gonna beat you to death!" The broken-nosed punk pulled his fist back, the other two kicked into his arms and ribs. "Say goodbye to your teeth, you bastard!"

Masao clamped his eyes shut, only seeing a glimpse of the feet and the oncoming fist. "_They have me pinned, can't get a shot in with three of em' on me. If one of them let up for a minute, I could_-_HUH?_"

Masao eyes widen at the broken-nosed punk retracting his fist to pressure his cheek. A flying pebble had hit him mid-punch. His two friends stopped for the moment to see the pebble touch the street and the remaining punk growl in exasperation.

"_Now's my chance!_" Masao swept his leg under one of the punks who had turned their backs, sending him to the floor face first liked he'd did with his backpack. Taking advantage of the second one distracted with his friend's fall he kicked him into the brass-knuckled punk with his other leg, planting it directly into his abdomen.

Masao struggled to his feet as brass-knuckles punched his underling down to the ground on top of the first Masao dropped.

"I don't know who threw that rock…I ain't leaving until your blood makes up for the cash I lost today!" Brass-knuckles pulled out a switchblade, brandishing it in his right and the brass-knuckles slipped on his left. "Try me now! A rock ain't saving you this time!"

"How about five?" A voice echoed through the alley, originating from the way Masao was tackled in. A figure stood at the end, at his question and exclamation, he sent a handful, a total of five, pebbles soaring and struck brass-knuckles in the face with each.

Masao dug into his pack quickly, taking the moment to retrieve whatever was at the bottom. "_Where are they? Where are they?_"

Brass-knuckles snarled and swung his knife. Masao wasn't ready and his hands were occupied. The arm was stopped, the slash uncompleted. The boy earlier had ran in and halted the knife arm with his own grip.

"Todo! You damn better let go of my arm! I'll deal with you next!"

"_Nao!_" Masao found what he needed, aghast at the ebony-haired boy holding back the knife.

"Thanks, Nao!" Masao victoriously pulled up a handful of charcoal stones.

"More rocks! Why the hell do you have those?"

"Never heard of charcoal paintings!" Masao, in the close-quarters tossed the charcoal at brass-knuckles forehead, creating an egg at each contact from the four stones Mark had scattered under his pads and spray paint.

Naoya let his arm go, shallowly escaping an abrupt punch with the knuckles. After charcoal being thrown in the face, brass-knuckles stumbled, dropping his knife, and rubbing the contusions jutting from his cranium.

Masao produced another four charcoal stones. "Wanna take a crack at it, Nao?"

Naoya smiled, picking up each stone and threw each one like a baseball, making four knuckleballs with charcoal strike the punk in the stomach until he collapsed backwards onto the other two.

Masao breathed sharply, moving his jaw back and forth as the two exited death way. "Jeez, a couple minutes later and I would've been a goner. Shit…those knuckles hurt!" Masao hissed sharply at the ache. "How'd you find me anyway Nao…well actual what are you doing here?"

Naoya smiled again, appearing comfortable unlike prior. "You left so suddenly, I didn't get to properly thank you for your saving me…I also wanted to thank you for waiting up for me."

Masao rubbed the underside of his nose. "Ah, shucks, it was nothin'…like I said before I just di-"

"Did what you thought was right, right? That was I did. I followed behind you, hoping to catch up, lost you a block back and had to catch up to this point, hearing that idiot yelling and curse orders…to be honest when I saw they had you cornered…I was scared shitless…I wasn't sure if I could stop it…I thought about turning tail and running…but I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I let someone die and I could've done something to stop it. So, I did what I thought was right, just like you, Mark."

Masao stopped and offered his palm up. "Thank you, Naoya Todo…for saving my life this day." Masao snickered. "Didn't think it be that corny when I said it."

Naoya added his palm up and the two high-fived and clutched their fists firmyl together. "Thought you said not to be so formal, Mark…Nao's fine…and thank you for saving my life today."

"NAO-KUN!"

Naoya's jaw dropped as if saying "OH SHIT!" He shook his head. "Why?" He mumbled.

"Whose that?" Masao looked and saw a brunette girl with a red ribbon pounding down the payment. At that moment a spark of love was ignited and Masao could've sworn she was encased in a heart that blotted the environment around her and a Western musician was playing a song relating to a certain "Yumei no Oko." (A/N)

"Whose she, Nao?" Masao asked, love struck.

The girl reached them. "Nao-kun! The nurse told me what happened and I left archery practice immediately! Look at you! You're bruised and cut…and banged up! You had mere worried!" The girl was rambling in a nervous and urgent manner.

"Sorry…I didn't tell you…" Naoya said.

"Oh, Nao ain't no pushover…" Masao respectively said. "Hell…he just saved my ass three minutes ago…Miss…" The brunette turned towards him. "Maki Sonomura, I'm practically Nao-kun's sister. Whose this Nao-kun?"

"Maki, this is Masao "Mark" Inaba, he's the one who saved me from the guys who jumped me after school."

"Oh my gosh! You saved Nao-kun!" She hugged Masao tight, causing him to go into a awe and painful state. "What can I do to thank you, Masao-kun?"

"You…can…let…go…my ribs…aren't exactly intact…"

"Oh my gosh!" She released him. "I'm so sorry! Nao-kun come on we have to take him to my house and patch him up!"

"No…that's alright…Maki…I'm fine." Masao attempted to turn, but Maki and Naoya hooked their arms under his and caught each other behind his neck.

"Sorry, Mark…I'm with Maki on this one…I wouldn't feel right if I let you walk home without getting those bruises taken care of."

"You read minds, Nao?"

"Huh?"

Masao shook it off. "Never mind…let's go, huh?"

Nao and Maki nodded and smiled.

At the setting sun, a bond was forged. The bond forged in the irons of respect, affection, love, care, and friendship. That day Masao Inaba and Naoya Todo saved each others lives. That day Masao Inaba, Naoya Todo, and Maki Sonomura created a bond between themselves that they would keep throughout middle-school, onward to high-school, and that would transcend the limits of others' imagination.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Masao groaned as Naoya's slash bounced off his axe again. "_He won't let up…Chisato's control hasn't degraded…I can't give up on Nao…he saved me, I saved him and we had each other's backs as buds for these three years and Maki was always their to patch us up when we got into it on the way home. It means everything to me…our bond…it must mean everything to him too…_"

"Masao give it up! My Nao-kun will strike until my command is fulfilled! Why not at least try to fight back with that axe of yours? As long as each of you hold your weapons, you hold your opponent's life in your hands!"

Masao looked at his axe. "_Each other's life and the other's hands…what am I doing…holding this up against Nao…he's not my enemy…I can beat the charm._"

Masao swung up his axe.

"Finally are you going to go for blood!"

"Nope!" Masao chucked his axe to his right, letting it slip from his fingers with the momentum and stick it directly into the floor by the bladed-section.

"WHAT?"

"I never should've raised a weapon to Nao in the first place, Chisato! I won't need my axe anymore! Nao's not going to attack!"

"Oh, really! Nao-kun! Attack him! Kill him! Kill your best friend, like your Queen commands!"

Naoya's eyes pulsed and he angled his blade, stepping towards Masao.

"Nao…don't be the puppet! You can't! I no you're stronger than this! I can't even count how many times you pulled my ass out of the fire following the day we met and I know you know all times I helped you…with bullies…with punks…with all the times you were afraid…all the times I was afraid!" Stray tears wanted to drip to express the sadness that their owner felt like others that very day. Masao recalled Naoya trembling to put the card in the card reader back at the abandoned factory that led into S.E.B.E.C. He could almost see the scene reflected in Naoya's eyes, the pink irises and pupils splintering.

Naoya shuddered, his katana sinking in his grasp, his unarmed hand clasping at the right of his head. The Marin Karin was weakening, Masao's constant words striking Naoya in the mind, body, soul, and heart. Each memory, word, and reminder of their bond chipped away at the minor enchantment encasing his internal and external body systems.

"Nao-kun! Nao-kun! What are you doing? Kill him! I ordered you to kill him! My Marin Karin commands you to do what your Queen orders!"

Masao raised his palm up to Nao. "You got this Nao!"

Naoya growled, screaming up to the ceiling, dropping his weapon. The fragmented pink withdrew and he regained composure, his mind, thoughts, bonds freed from the strings of Chisato's petty desires and jealously that birthed the spell via the mirror.

"HOW? MY MARIN KARIN!"

"I told you, Chisato!" Masao snapped, Nao raised his hand as he stood abreast to Mark. "My voice would reach Nao! Our bond isn't brittle!" They high-fived and clutched each other's fists. "It's strong!"

"That's right…Chisato." Naoya stated. "Your twisted games aren't going to conquer our bond!"

"What are you gonna do, Chisato? You're Nao-kun isn't yours and I'm sure Aki's going to be angry when she comes back and realizes you haven't killed us." Masao yelled.

Chisato bit deep into her lips, expanding the dripping wounds. "I'll kill you all myself, starting with Maki!" Her moles grew as she glanced at her mirror for the spell. "MIRROR, MIRROR, NOW'S THE HOUR; GIVE TO ME YOUR STRONGEST POWER! FREILA!"

The mirror glowed as bright as the other moments and unleashed a familiar greenish yellow-colored cannonade directly at the statue Maki Sonomura.

"_No!_" Masao leaped, picking up his axe and dashing to protect Maki. "Fine, Chisato! **LET'S DO IT TO IT!**" Masao swung his axe high in the air. The velvet blue mist surged up, turning Masao into a barrier, blocking the Freila Skill from Maki.

"_You won't win this Chisato! I didn't fight, Nao! I won't fight you either, but I won't let you harm Maki! I'll bring us all back alive, I'll watch our backs! No matter what, you won't win!_" Masao peered into the struggling energy attempting to bend around his raging blue aura. "**PERSONA!**"

A shatter of glass was heard in Masao's mind. "_**Thou art I and I am thou! Thou hast proven thyself worthy of the power of Chariot! Thou hast had a revelation of the heart and demonstrated victory, self-assertion, and the characteristic of a true honorable warrior! Thou hast earned his Ultimate Chariot! Ogun hast become Susano-o, the God of the Seas and Storms!**_"

Ogun, the voodoo and brown wrapped Persona materialized in the mist, his spear spinning in midair. At a quick rotation of the staff, free from him, six cold-steel, four foot long spikes punctured the cloth of Ogun's shoulders, three spikes per shoulder. At the second rotation, twelve six inch spikes matching the previous erected and pierced the cloth of Ogun's wrist, circling around, six for each wrist. At the third rotation, Ogun's mask bisected, the green wiggling forms of hair/mane, withering away and a samurai's top-knot protruding in replacement with a mess of scarlet, orange hair that stretch at least the length of three men, un-kept, wild, and flowing eventually draping itself over Ogun's neck, the halved mask falling away. Two bottomless abysses of blackness with emerald slits for eyes were the sockets of the skinless skull revealed. The worn bone held the top-knot on the peak of his defined cranium. The upper jaw was intact and the teeth sharpened to a fine point to that of a fiend's. The lower jaw was missing, replaced with a purple skinned chin, decorated with a beard of matching scarlet, orange hair. The staff rotated a forth time, and the cloth covering Ogun's remaining body and limbs rippled and tore itself away, revealing the complete form of Susano-o. Iron shoulder plates and gauntlets held the steel spikes. His exposed skin was bare, naked, a deep purple, painted with squares and stripes and streams of black and white. At last the spear spun for the fifth and final time, presenting itself to Susano-o horizontally, who raised his fierce, well-crafted gauntlets to the blunt-end and spearhead. He clapped his hands together, the spear vanishing into his gauntlets as they longed for each other, connecting into the clap. A peaking purple spark shined and the Persona opened it's hands, bringing forth a golden, refulgent blade, branched from hilt to tip with six prongs of equal length and height. The Persona arced the sword in a swipe and floated above Masao, blankless emerald-slits pitying the paltry attack trying to damage it's muscular physique.

Masao shut tight his eyes. "_Ultimate Chariot…true warrior…then my Persona evolved like Brown's and Nanjo's!_"

"_**Yes…Masao Inaba…you surely can hear my words…you surely have questions…**_" A collected and raspy voiced male stated in Masao's mind.

"_Not the time, dude, let's just stop Chisato! We have to destroy her mirror, it's the only way!_"

"_**Then repeat the name of my technique, true warrior!**_"

Masao heard Susano-o's technique spoken in the foreign tongue. "**SUSANO-O! BRAVE BLADE!**"

The luminous branch sword, released a maroon aura, Susano-o taking it in both hands, his biceps straining. He flicked the sword forward at the struggling Freila Skill, wrenching the weapon from his hands. The sword, packed with the building red energy spun expeditiously, riving the cannonade in half, the crimson splashing away the green and yellow to make a tunnel in the attack to drive the sword into the mirror. The Brave Blade struck the mirror clean, the glass and frame unscathed, but coated and drenched in the remnants of red sealed in each prong and tip. The reflective surface ceased its glow, the spell ceasing with the magic, the blade returned to its owner's hands like a boomerang, spinning backwards in its own arc that Susano-o originally readied it with.

"My mirror!" Chisato fell to her knees. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY MIRROR? I CAN'T FEEL ITS POWER! IT'S GONE! YOU BROKE IT!"

Masao threw his fist in the air and rested his axe on his shoulder, Susano-o imitating his master with his branched sword and unarmed armored knuckles. "_Mirror ain't broken, but her magic sure is, right?_"

"_**Yes, True Warrior Masao Inaba, my Brave Blade has rendered that meager medium useless. She'll no longer be able to project her wills through the magic of the mirror. My divine aura has robbed it of it's false power. You have won and without a causality. I shall take my leave, until you need me again, myself, True Warrior Masao Inaba…**_"

Susano-o faded and Masao could see in the blackness of his mind a stray card, decorated with a mask image on the back fall. "_The card Igor used…to predict my arcana…_" The card's full image came in sights, depicting Susano-o standing tall, his hands clapped together and the golden branched sword stabbed directly into the earth. "_Thank you…myself…I guess…couldn't have done it without you._"

Naoya grabbed Masao by the shoulder. "Whatever you did with that new Persona of yours, it definitely worked, Mark. The others seem to be returning to normal.

The gray of the statues was indeed draining away, soon they would return. Chisato kept on glaring at her mirror, Aki arriving on the scene in a white flash.

"Hey, Queenie! How weak are you, losing to nobodies like them?"

"That little brat!" Masao shook his fist.

"If you can't win, I'm not gonna fix your face! Though I never was gonna do that anyway!" Aki stuck her tongue out and blew a raspberry.

Chisato gasped, utter abhorrence. "Huh? Hey, wait…WHAT DO YOU MEAN?" She was absolutely desperate.

"Daddy called you a "guinea pig" and a "useless pon"! He said: "Even if Chisato loses, she's not worth our trouble!" So you can have fun staying that way as long as you live! Bye-bye, Queenie! ERUSAER TYSUMMOM!" Aki removed herself in her usual flash of light, leaving Chisato on her knees.

"W-wait! Am I going to be like this forever! NOOOOOOOO!" Chisato's voice cracked as she carried on.

"_Damn, she really know how to whale!_"

"Mark, look!" Naoya pointed to Maki and Kei, the statue stone was dissolve, shedding like a second skin and freeing them from the imprisonment.

"What in the hells?" Kei hissed, wiping dust off his glasses with his scarf.

"Were we still alive like that?" Yukino asked herself, gulping.

"Man, my back is killing me! How long was I hunched over?" Brown complained.

"Like, what…?" Ayase asked, clueless to the problem she caused.

"Goddamn bimbo…" Reiji cursed, harshly wiping miniature shards from his jacket and hair.

"Brave leader…" Eriko whispered. "You're all right…you're you…thank heavens…"

"_Chisato's spell is gone! They're back to normal!_" Masao turned and saw Maki, who hadn't said a word, instead she was slowly moving to the forlorn Chisato.

"Miss Angel…betrayed me! I can't be like this! I can't look like this!" Chisato whimpering.

"Chisato…just wait here for us." Maki started calmly. "We'll go catch that girl!" She shouted with a renewed vigor. "And when we do we'll make her put your face back to the way it was!"

Chisato, her face nearly a giant mole itself, turned to Maki. "Maki…" She faulted for a moment, then burst. "You're lying! Don't feed me that crap! I know you think I deserve all this!"

Maki crouched, going on her knees on Chisato's shell. "I'm not lying, Chisato." She moved Naoya's tossed machinegun to Naoya himself, everyone else remaining silent. "I still like you…even now."

Chisato faulted again. "You…like me…?"

Maki nodded up-and-down. "Yep! You're energetic, beautiful, fashionable, and self-possessed. I can tell what Yosuke sees in you."

"No!" She snapped. "I'm…sure Yosuke still has a thing for you, Maki." She remembered suddenly everything she had done. "I'm sorry…I was so jealous of you, Maki. You say I'm self-possessed, but it's just an act. The real me is helpless. I have to act out and look pretty or everyone will ignore me. That's why I envied. You just had to be yourself, and everyone loved you.

"_Maki has such a big-heart Chisato doesn't realize that's why everyone loves her. She's kind, and selfless and never holds a grudge…even now when she isn't our Maki she's connecting and forgiving our Chisato._"

"Chisato…" Maki said.

Chisato cut her off. "Yosuke will hate me now. Then, you and him will…" She stopped opening up. "Yosuke…" She repeated with pure sorrow and worry.

"Ohhh, you are so stubborn!" Maki exclaimed fully benign. "Deep down, you really like Yosuke, but you don't have to worry about me getting in the way. See…"

"Oh…wait…I remember now." Naoya said.

The door to the chamber was busted in and Yosuke feebly limped in, bones still fractured and body still in-sling and bandaged.

"_Yosuke, what the hell is he doing here? How is here?_"

"Chisato, I finally found you! I've been looking for you all this time!" Yosuke yelled, out of breath and grunted. "What happened to your face? Did you get hurt?" He limped his way to Chisato, Naoya, Kei and Masao clearing his path.

"No! Yosuke, please don't look at me! I'm hideous!" Chisato cowered behind Maki.

Maki clicked her tongue, helping Yosuke up on the seashell. "Umm…what happened was, Aki put a curse on her, and…"

"_That's not what…_"

"Maki!" Chisato stood up to Yosuke's eye. "Are you trying to cover for me? No…not this time…" She came up-close and personal to Yosuke, having Maki step down, allowing them both to see her moles clearly. "Look, Yosuke! This is my face now! I did terrible things…I was so cruel to Maki! This is my punishment!"

"Chisato…!" Yosuke exclaimed.

"I don't deserve you, Yosuke! I'm a terrible person! Even the face I was so proud of shows it! If people see you with me, they'll laugh at you, too! That's why it's okay if you want Maki instead! You always liked her, right?"

"Hey, hey, hey don't get me wrong!" He frantically replied. "Yeah, I did like Maki…but that was in the past. I like you now, Chisato!" He closed in and she lightly held him back. "Argh, listen to me! This is so embarrassing! C'mon let's go, huh? Leave this place, a white angel told me to come her…told me your were in danger?"

"_White angel, his isn't talking about Aki that's for sure._"

"Your efforts weren't in vain, Yosuke!" Naoya shouted, catching everyone's attention. "Chisato wanted you here to…she had the maze deliver you here safely…I saw it."

Chisato dropped her arms, thanking Nao and Maki subconsciously. "But, Yosuke…these moles will never come off, you know…" She accepted his embrace. "You won't care if your friends laugh at us…?"

Yosuke kept her in his arms. "Let 'em laugh! See if I care! You said you're a bad person? Well, I'm no saint, either. Don't worry about it. Just be honest with me, like you were a second ago. I'm your boyfriend, Chisato…I don't care what you look like…as long as you're you…that's all I could want in the world. I-I-I love you, Chisato!"

At Yosuke's ejaculation, the mirror gifted by impractical devil known as Takahisa Kandori, glowed one last time and crumbled, the atrophy of the wood reducing the frame to rotten chunks and the glass shatter in on itself into a thousand shards that were the size of grains of salt

"Oh! The mirror…" Maki said.

"It's destroyed!" Masao completed.

Yosuke was shocked. "Chisato! You're face…it's back to normal!"

With the destruction of the demon's mirror, Chisato's face became blemish free, perfectly fine, polished, and as flawless as porcelain. "You're right, Yosuke! This is wonderful and I'm not talking about my face. I always thought you still liked Maki, Yosuke. Thanks…" As they puckered and kissed, they stepped down on the ground level and circled up with everyone at Naoya's recommendation.

"Like you said, Maki. Deep down, I like Yosuke. I'd hope you could forgive me but I doubt it, I did want us to be friends again, though…" Chisato said.

"Oh, come on! What's to forgive? You're still my best friend, Chisato. I'm really happy for you!"

Masao and Naoya high-fived again as Chisato and Yosuke embraced again. "_Best friends, huh? Guess you and I are no different Nao. We beat this. Kandori has nothing on us, we'll take that rat bastard down, no matter what."_

Naoya spoke. "It seems Aki escaped. Chisato, do you known anything about a man named Kandori? He's in league with Aki."

"I don't know anyone named Kandori, but you know that girl said that she lives in a castle like a princess."

"A castle? Say what?" Masao exclaimed.

Kei snorted. "It's not all that surprising. Though still a child, Aki's powers are immense. She has created familiars of gods, making a castle would be easy."

"Alright, then that's our next goal. Let's find that castle!" Maki cheered.

"_It's nice to see her happy again, even if-_"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, Chisato, but that Maki isn't the Maki we know." Yosuke stated.

"Huh?" Chisato questioned.

"It's a long story…" Masao answered.

"We'll tell you at the top." Naoya replied, pulling out the Traesto Gem Igor gave them. "Gather together everyone!" As they grouped together, Naoya crushed the gem in his hand, becoming a pile of white ash. "TRAESTO!" He threw the powder over head, casting it down on all eleven heads, and they felt the jerk and decomposition of matter that traveled passed the ten floors of the Kama Palace and to the top floor of Joy Street, the Black Market where their matter reformed.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Kandori, sat in the darkness, Aki sitting beside him. She had just given the report on Chisato, the Harem Queen, and the whole situation. "They are heading here then…the trial with the mirror turning that pitiful girl into the Harem Queen was needless…Aki…prepare the trap at the gates and lock them shut while you're at it."

"Yes, Daddy!"

"They'll do the work for us. Mai will give them what we desire and then they shall perish."

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

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><p>AN: I'm not sure if 2006 is the exact year it may actually be 1998, but I'm not 100 percent positive but for my series of novelizations this one takes place during 2006

I'm tempted to say why do you even have to ask what that translate outs to, but if you know the scene I was getting at you know what it says. Weaver of dreams is what it translate out too take a swing at what I'm referencing and you can't just say the song.

*Groans in displeasure* My God, I'm sorry this took a longer than I wanted, but I had no idea this would be nine hundred words and honestly it didn't turn out entirely how I wanted due to the fact that while I was writing this with severe head congestion and sleep deprivation and sporadic writing for this chapter. In each of those sittings I lost all sights of what I was doing and ended up struggling with how to explain, how to write, how to shape this dialogue and jeez it sucked, especially with Masao's revelation really not being clearly seen, because I'm trying emphasis that he knows who he is, where he lies in life, what he wants to do, how he runs what he wants to do, and he knows when to pick a fight, because in my opinion a true warrior knows when, where, and why to raise his sword and put it down. Now to be fare the Chariot Arcana isn't all about honor. It's more about conquest, but also command and self-assertion which fits Masao well including artistry and etc. I personally blame the head congestion for the lack in that department, but I'm still kicking myself in the ass. I can't let it get me down. Also I know I crammed three Persona evolution close together, but the next chapter will not have one but will be in the lone view point of one character, try and guess who. For the record the next evolution will be in maybe three or four chapters try and guess whose next. Either way, I hope you *Yawn* enjoyed Chapter Fifteen of Persona: Be Your Mind *Shuts eyes* and I'll see you next time for Chapter Sixteen: Castle Gates Locked. *Falls unconscious*

Eriko: Oh, the poor thing has fallen asleep hasn't he?"

Reiji: He's lucky! I was gonna kick his ass for not having any of us say more then two lines this chapter.

Yukino: Save it for later, Kido. There'll be plenty of opportunities!

Brown: *Facepalm* For his sake, I hope not.

Ayase: Like, me too!


	16. Chapter 16: Castle Gates Locked

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything_

Not much to say here, we're at the point of the novelization where this and the two or three following chapters are only one to two scenes, mostly dealing with story and comic relief and I believe one of them is action, but this is the chapter that holds no real purpose other then to set a minor fetch quest of the storyline in play for the next two chapters and establish Reiji's canonical back-story. Yes he's the main perspective and there's a little twist on the perspectives here that you won't expect or understand unless you've either played the game with Reiji or read the chapter. And I found a theme that I think fits well at least in my opinion, so in the middle of the chapter I'll drop a A/N to note when to queue up and start the song along with it's name if you wish to listen to it during that section. With that aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind, Chapter Sixteen.

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><p><em>Chapter Sixteen: Castle Gates Locked<em>

Reiji spat to the side of the empty roadway, trailing behind everyone else under the blotched out sky. Back at the Black Market, they had left Chisato and Yosuke to move onward to Kandori's castle. Yosuke had decided to take Chisato back to St. Hermelin where they'd be safe, leaving the name of his white angel with them, the one who guided him to Chisato: Mai.

Reiji thought of the name imaging a polar opposite to Aki for some odd reason. He shrugged to himself, dragging his heel in frustration. He had recalled the hours wasted in the day and a half on pointless blocks in his path.

"_Why'd I join these guys anyway, for the past day I've run into bump upon bump to delay me. The mechanical rat, the punk's fist, the punk's temper-tantrum, that fuckin' turtle, the dragon, that bullshit Black Market and it's annoying-ass queen and her femme fatale servants! What's fuckin' next a moat of fire encircling Kandori's castle beyond that a bunch of land mines and bear traps with a couple of fucking demons mixed in for the hell of it and than when we reach the doors the whole fortress is a dud and he pulls the whole "SORRY CHURLISH AND ILL-CONCEIVED OFFSPRING THIS BASTARD'S IN ANOTHER CASTLE WITH HIS OBNOXIOUS BRAT!"_

Reiji wanted to spit again, the thought of Kandori's mouth retorting to him with such words as churlish and ill-conceived granted a astringent taste. "_Churlish, ill-conceived offspring…_" He placed his fingers to his scar, feeling a shooting pain emanate from olden gauge. "_You and your father won't get away with it Kandori…I refuse. You made this churlish, ill-conceived offspring Takahisa Kandori…you and your father did with your actions and you'll pay the price…I swore it on the blood in these veins, my mother's name: Misumi, and my family name…that's all your father Hotaru left me Takahisa…you on the other hand left much more…this kindly reminder etched in my skin, this mark that forever serves to empower my contempt and eternal loath for you! This scar that drives me to take vengeance to right the wronged acts you performed that ruined my mother and mine's life! I'll send you to hell with these fists! Bloodied, bruised, or broken they will take your life and if another obstacle gets in my course, they'll eradicated it! No matter what wall you built up, I'll knock it down! My patience is gone, my tolerance has withered, and my anger has boiled to the tip! If I'm delayed again, you'll see a juggernaut of destruction and blind rage heading for you Kandori! I guarantee it!_"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Takahisa Kandori rested his right leg over his left, reclining in his throne, fit as a king, plush red fabric cushioning nicely fitting his head, lower back and lumbar comfortably while preventing the rough ruby the throne was forged with irate. Aki sat in the air beside him, kicking her feet back and forth, wallowing in her creation of her Daddy's new throne. The ambiance of the darkness cast a dome of silence, the two spoke not a word, their sight normal in the black.

A mirror twice the size of Kandori was placed before him, like a squire or peasant beckoned to his Highness by his knights. The mirror was similar to the one he granted to the Harem Queen except that one was a testing medium to the girl known as Chisato Kasai. He peered at the distinct scarlet iron bat topped at the frame, which instead of being crafted of wood was of a conglomeration of tarnished silver and rusted scrap metal. It was a cruel and crimson mirror for a cruel King to gaze upon as he sat on his crimson throne.

Kandori tapped his finger to his expensive shoes, spinning two silver balls in his other hand. His leather scabbard containing his contemptible and foul saber was at his hip; the king could almost feel his blade quiver with want for blood, perhaps resonating to another's intentions…or his approach.

Kandori peered without distraction with his full-sight into the mirror, seeing various gray dressed teenagers approaching his castle. His sanctuary, his domain was far from marvelous to the eye and far from what he wanted. His castle was the generic, hackneyed medieval type with a Japanese flair. A standard two floor palace constructed of junk from the huge stacks besides the Black Market by Aki and her magic with a exterior of the west and east wings, but in truth they were empty shells. He chose a sliding door to be the entrance threshold instead of drawbridge and chain, not having servants yet to utilize it. Technically there were only three rooms, the entrance hall, decorated with a cherry blossom folding screen and a cardboard cut out of the castle's image. Aki thought it was cute. The interior was an ugly bear-colored brown not his particular chose. He'd let Aki decide and the girl favored the darker colors such as black and brown while he favored the darker but brighter ones such as blue and gray. From the doors there was a wide-open room that Aki had made that served purely as a way to the staircase to his throne room, it the same repulsive brown, but twice the size of the entrance hall with absolutely nothing held or set in it. Then came his room, the room where the king held his head up and laughed at the squirming laborers before him: the throne room.

To his own regret it was not finished in the furbishing yet, but it soon wouldn't matter, the ruby throne, royal carpet, and special mirror was all he needed for the time being as the churlish offspring Reiji Kido and his "friends" marched to his fortress. They would do the what he could not accomplish, aiding him without evening knowing it themselves. Soon after their arrival the title of king would mean nothing to him. Kandori never wanted to be the king, because even royalty has to bow down. They bow down to the gods and that was what Takahisa Kandori wished, yearned, and begged for. He wanted to be the tallest tower, the tower that pierced farther then the skies, the universe, to the heavens itself. He would throw his cruel, crimson throne room and king image with his least-than-satisfying domain away and rise, becoming a god.

God, his palms sweat with anticipation. He was forced to rub them together, putting his balls back in his pocket. His mouth contorted to a crooked grin. He couldn't help himself, it was cracking him up. The devil wanted to laugh at his plan, laugh to his hearts-content at the ill-conceived Reiji Kido who will dance for him, who will be part of bringing the man who wronged him the key piece to godship.

Flashes of Reiji dazzled on the reflective surface, Kandori's wicked howling increasing at each still-frame of Kido's face. The clench-teethed, the balled fists, the scowl and glare at whoever he saw, and the most glorious section of all that reminded Kandori solely of his past and just made him laugh more. The "X" slashed into the once pale, subtle skin turned to a mauve, disturbing mark that to Kandori would always be his personalized brand to Reiji Kido to emphasize the churlish, ill-conceived punk as one who should know desolation for eternity and that desolation, grief, depression, never-lasting rage, and anguish was caused by a man who had become the grandest tower, Takahisa Kandori.

"Aki, dear, our guests are arriving…be a good girl and greet them with the biggest smile you can and tell them of what to do, please."

Aki grew a grinned that matched Kandori's. "Sure, Daddy!"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Reiji was unimpressed with the outside of Kandori's fortress, not a guard, sentry, moat, or trap to prevent them from entering in through the screen door. He became cross in the entrance hall, greeted with a surrounding revolting brown, complemented by a cardboard cut-out of the castle and the little brat in black, Aki, who was grinning like a moron while she spun around a pedestal erected next to a pair of light painted wooden double doors.

"So this is your hideout!" Maki exclaimed at Aki. "It's the end of the line for you!"

Aki blew a raspberry. "Phbbt! You can't get in from here!" Aki turned to the pedestal beside the doors, floating upward. "If the one in the forest was here, yeah, but she's too much of a scaredy cat! That's how come no one can stop me and my Daddy! If you wanna play with us then tell that scaredy cat, Mai, in the forest that you need her half of our mirror! Bye bye!" With that the doors sprung open, Aki floating behind them and they snapped shut, showered in a glaze of white.

"Hey, wait!" Maki snapped at the door snap. "Ugh! Sheesh…she got away again!"

Nanjo paused, folding his arms when he heard a snarl emanate from Kido's nostrils. "Her half of the mirror, hm?"

Masao approached the doors, jiggling the handles and pushing and pulling. "Damn…it won't even budge."

The sound of scuffing echoed, Reiji was running the threads of his school shoes along the ground like a bull readying to charge.

"_Won't budge…shittin me right?_ _No more delays…Kandori's life is mine…it will be mine now…I'm sick of this…_"

Kei examined the pedestal at the door, noticing a half-moon-shaped hollow.

"What do you think Kei?" Naoya asked curiously still trying to make heads-or-tails of what to do, hearing the distant crack of knuckles and a neck behind him.

"_I can feel the build up within me…I'm shifting alignments completely…I can't…stopping…thinking…of….CHAOS!_"

"Aki referred to this mysterious Mai as the scaredy cat in the woods, telling us if we want to reach Kandori we must ask for her other half of the mirror. That must be what fits in here…" Kei explained.

"But why?" He whispered to himself. "Could it be?" He mumbled, detached from the jangling of a chain hung from a particular choker.

"_THE CHAOS IS STRONG! I CAN'T BREAK IT! I DON'T CARE! I LIKE IT! I LOVE IT!_"

"This Mai is in the forest she said." Yukino repeated.

"Didn't you say it used to be a flower garden, Maki?" Masao asked.

"Yeah, but now they call it the Lost Forest." Maki replied, noticing Reiji's erratic scowl and rage-filled pit of an expression.

"_LOCKS! KEYS! FETCHING KEYS FOR LOCKS! NO! I REFUSE!_"

"I propose, brave leader, that we go to this Lost Forest." Eriko suggest.

Naoya nodded. "I was just about to say that Eriko. We don't have much of choice. If the mirror half is the only way, I guess Maki will have to show us the way to this former flower garden."

"Hey, N.T., Reiji's looking scarier than usual…" Brown stammered hiding behind Yukino, gulping in nervousness at Reiji's heaving breaths, almost roars.

"_I'M DONE! THIS ENDS NOW!_"

"Yikes! Like, he looks rabid!" Ayase huddled close to Brown behind Yukino both clutching the duffel bag tight as a shield, fearing Reiji's consistent fist clenching and un-clenching that he was thinking of punching.

"Reiji…" Naoya said.

"Yo, Kido, chill out, what are you all riled up for?" Masao asked, leaning on the door.

"**YOU DAMN WELL BETTER GET OUT OF THE WAY, INABA! I'M GOING TO DESTROY THAT GATE!**" With that Reiji bolted forward at an unbelievable speed, his gloves tearing at the seems at his massive inward balling-up.

Masao clambered out of the way as the beast-like teenage boy blindly swung at the doors without an ounce of tact or care. His rocks of fists pounding endlessly at each blow, not a single reverberation or shake indicated a reaction to the behemoth-like force his physical limbs were dealing. He beat-on it harder and harder, the red fabric ripping and splitting at the muscular blows. His knuckles gruesomely cracked at his hammering, splatters of blood staining the door as the bruised and burst open knuckles seeped and splashed varying quantities of his vowed family blood on the obstruction. His overzealous frustration, anguish, grief, never-ending rage followed through with his punching, his eyes shot open as wide as humanely possible, evilness in the pupils, contempt in the irises, his death-bringing glare not a mere knife, but a hefting zweihander pointed at the wall that guarded, the wall that shielded, that wall that barricaded his blood-curdling fists from Kandori's throat, Kandori's blood, Kandori's damned bastard heart. Reiji pounded and pounded, one punch and jab after another after every single combination possible at the same speed and strength as the start.

His beastly strikes were not wavering the door did un-damaged, but still damaged him. He could hear his carpals fracture even his metacarpals shatter as his rage-full pressured strikes backfired, his own power turned on him. All the while he was screaming a cry that caused everyone to cringe for as long as he screamed: "**!"**

Reiji clamped his jaw shot, the adrenaline slowing, his heart beat racing faster though. His rage was not quelled. "_FIST WON'T WORK! FUCK EM'! I'LL BLOW IT AWAY!_"

Reiji un-strapped his assault rifle and unleashed the full clip, the spray of rapid vain gunfire into the door, each casing and bullet flying and cascading over his head at such close range. The scolding hot metal passing and singeing his neck and cheeks as they flew. He aggressively bashed the stock first to the ground at a dry click. "**GODDDAMN IT! FUCKIN GUN! AAAAHHHHHHH!**" Reiji's bash, broke the extendable stock off the gun without issue.

"**NO GUN! NO FISTS! IT'S ALL ON YOU BRES! END THIS! BREAK THIS FUCKING WALL DOWN! I WILL KILL YOU KANDORI! I WILL KILL YOU! I WILL KILL YOU! I WILL KILL YOU! I WILL KILL YOU!**"

Reiji threw an uppercut, his knuckles and hand hanging lazily limp, irrefutably worn from it's abusive attacks. A scarlet mist exploded from Reiji swallowing the entire room, including the others in it's thick, heated aura that felt demonic by nature. They could hear Reiji's shouts of commands to his Persona.

"**BRES! MAMUDO! NOW! KILL EVERYTHING! EVERYTHING! KILL KANDORI! KILL EVERYTHING HE HAS! KILL HIM!**"

Hundreds of Chinese characters and Japanese kanjis spun in circles of otherworldly purple energy smacked themselves onto the door, the walls, the entire far side of the room Reiji was facing. Bres swung his sword-arm, the kanji for hell emerging in the center of the multitude of 2D circles slapped onto the surface like stamps. The characters and kanjis spun and the purple shined rays of light as said circles enclosed and connected to another into an oval that doubled as a maw to hell attempting to eat half the room.

Reiji laughed. "**GO TO HELL! EVERYTHING! GO TO HELL! I'M AM GOING TO SEND YOU TO HELL KANDORI! YOU WILL DIE! I GUARANTEE IT! I'VE DESTROYED YOUR WALL! THE JUGGERNAUT OF RAGE YOU'VE CREATED IS COMING FOR YOU BASTARD!**"

At the sudden dissipation of the numerous circles of Mudo energy at the stabbing light of the glaze of the door, revealing everything intact, shot down Reiji's ecstasy, sending his mentality spiraling into a crash. He collapsed to his knees, his jaw hung open. "_WHY? HOW? WHY CAN'T I KILL KANDORI? WHY MUST FATE FUCK ME IN THE END? WHY MUST IT BE THIS WAY? I NEED TO TAKE VENGEANCE! I HAVE TO TAKE VENGEANCE! IT'S THE ONLY WAY TO RIGHT THE WRONG! WHY WON'T FATE ALLOW ME? WHY, MOTHER?_"

The Chaos left, Bres disappearing with the aura of crimson. With the evil intentions and thoughts faded at the crushing of his most powerful Mudo attack, he realized the destroyed bones of his hands, caused by his muscle mass and haymakers. He fell on his back, his gloves in ribbons. He couldn't bend his fingers enough to remove them. He banged the back of his head on the floor, wanting to weep.

"_Tears are needless…all of these other idiots cry…I refuse to break down like they do. I'm tired…of this…I kicked and screamed like a whiny cur because I couldn't get my way…_" Reiji shut his eyes.

"Reiji!"

His eyes broaden when he felt himself being lifted after Naoya and Masao's calls. They dragged him and laid him back in a recumbent position. "_What are they doing?_ _Do they really care?_"

"Maki heal him quick!" Naoya pleaded.

"Yeah, I heard the bones pop, his knuckles are raw, bleeding badly. I think I can see the torn muscle. Heal him up as best as you can, just don't panic okay?"

"Right, Masao-kun!" Maki stated, raising her hand up. "I'm not sure how much spiritual power I have left, I've been using it left and right, but Maso and I should be able to put out a Diarama." A velvet mist wrapped around her.

"_She's going to heal me? I wrecked myself that bad, huh? Wow, Kido, you are a moron of the highest caliber thinking the Chaos Alignment you is the better when that you was the one who threw down with the punk and nearly bled to do death. Now I've nearly ruined my body beyond recognition. What the hell is wrong with me? This damn Persona…it's such a pain in the ass…_"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Kandori tried to stifle his incessant laughter, having basked in his amusement of Reiji's writhing strives to break through fail repeatedly. He loved every punch, every bullet, his wide-spread Mudo Skill go up in flames and harm himself. The burns and slashes upon his face, the ripped and torn apart gloves that were reduced to shreds along with his muscles and knuckles, the bones of his hands broken, Kandori admired each having seen them flash in the mirror.

"_Reiji Kido, you are pathetic. You are nothing. You will never reach me. I am higher than you can comprehend._"

A string of images ran by on the surface of the mirror. The first was Maki Sonomura healing Reiji with a Diarama, consuming him in a empowering green aura, that regenerated the spent skin, blood, and bone, but was unable to recreate his gloves. The second image was Reiji standing, Naoya Todo and Masao Inaba trying to push him back down, but he charged through. The third and final image was Reiji approaching the pearly gates again, acting as if he was ready for round two.

"_Interesting, does he believe he can win like this. This other Maki can keep revitalizing him all she wants, but he will push onward until he's dead. That's how steadfast he is; that is how much he hates me. I've infected his soul with a all-devouring hatred which festered as he grew. He'll never let what I did go. The hatred plagues him, fatigues him, caused him to seek me out when I made my move with the Deva System. He'd reached his limits and the rage had took his mind with the Persona he was granted, sending him on this path of self-destruction. It's hilarious to watch him struggle, always coming close to me yet being set back miles. Poor, poor churlish spawn, you will never kill me. It is impossible._"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

There Reiji stood, glaring down the obstructive gates. He removed the remains of his once finely sewn gloves, flexing each individual finger to make sure Maki's spell did the trick. "_Let's try this scene again!_"

Reiji winded up his arm, bending his legs to tackle the door again. He set it in his sights, Masao and Naoya putting themselves in the way. "_What are they doing?_" Reiji growled.

"Reiji, what do you think you're doing?" Naoya asked.

"I'm going to destroy that gate! What the hell do you think?"

Masao coolly raised his hands up in protest. "Whoa there, Reiji. This isn't something you can just smash like that. We all saw, man! You yourself should've felted it!" Masao exclaimed.

"He's right, Reiji." Naoya added.

"You do seem to only act this way when it involves Kandori, Kido." Kei stated.

Reiji glared at Kei. "Shut up, Four-Eyes! You don't know shit!" He turned back to Masao and Naoya. "Inaba, Punk, outta the way!" He put up his fists.

Naoya grimaced. "I'm not going to fight you, Reiji. I'm not going to let the Chaos take you."

"This ain't the Chaos talking anymore Punk this is me! Now, out the way! Kandori dies today!"

"You know as much as I hate to agree with Nanjo, he's right, Reiji. You're obsessing over killing Kandori and I'm not gonna ask why, but man you don't have to carrying whatever it is all by yourself!" Masao snapped.

Reiji gasped, dropping his arms. "_What? Carry it by myself? Is that stoner for real?_" He folded his arms, tucking his chin in the nape of his neck.

"Masao-kun's right, Reiji. We're all in this together, after all." Maki announced.

"Yeah, so quit the tough guy act and fess up." Yukino commanded, not concerned but wanting to move along.

"Like, hurry up!" Ayase complained.

Reiji directed one eye at Ayase, causing her to squeal and hide behind Brown who was hiding behind Yukino.

"_They won't understand. It's pointless._" He shook his head to Maki. "I have no reason to play nice. "All in this together"? You disgust me." Reiji spat, his mouth filled with the familiar sour taste. "And you, Masao?"

"Huh?" Masao pointed to himself.

"You disgust me most of all."

Maki gasped herself. "Reiji, that's not very nice!" She scolded.

"Spare me your air-headed bullshit, I've had my fill."

"Reiji-" Maki was cut off by Masao.

"It's cool, Maki." He said, stepping away from the door and to Reiji. "Get disgusted or don't, dude, but we have to go back together for now. Cause' we're all after the same thing. So, c'mon let's go."

Reiji slammed his foot. "You're all idiots, huh? You don't understand. I hitched a ride with your dumb asses and it's gotten me nowhere. We're all after the same thing, my ass. You all aren't trying a damn bit to kill Kandori! Especially you three!" He accusingly aimed his index finger at Maki, Masao, and Naoya. "All you care about is saving the world or finding the real her!" He pointed back to Maki. "I have my own goals, my own reasoning! Come to think of it, I don't need you guys anymore! Piss off to find your mirror half or whatever! I'm staying here! Don't be shocked when you see Kandori's dismembered corpse laid at the doormat! So long, ass-"

Reiji's goodbye which involved him flipping the bird was interrupted by Eriko who slapped him square-across the face. "You're despicable, Reiji Kido! The way you talk and the way you act is nothing short of evil!"

It was Eriko's turn to be glared at, but she didn't back-down. "Say that again! I'm evil, huh? That's funny! I feel like dying of laughter at your jest!"

"I said your despicable, Reiji."

"Why's that, bitch? Is it because I want to kill a man who screwed my mother over? Who threw my mother's and mine's life into despair? Because if that's the reason why, then to me the bastard responsible deserves to be torched, poisoned, stabbed, mutilated, tortured until ever second of his suffering makes up for every second of mine me and my mother had spent striving to live!"

Eriko swallowed spit for a moment and retorted. "It's ironic Reiji, in your journey the anti-hero has become the antagonist."

"_Anti-hero, a.k.a. me has become the antagonist,_" Reiji was taken by surprise at Eriko's comment. "This isn't one of your books, Kirishima. I'm clearly in the right, anti-hero or not!"

"Your no longer that Reiji, all this time you've run your mouth saying the same thing over again, throwing aside all other innocent lives for your own objective, not caring what happens to anyone else in the process. You're a selfish man! You're no better than Kandori! You have become the man you wish to kill! You have become Takahisa Kandori!"

Reiji's eye twitched in a frenzy, raging flickering in his pupils again. "_I'm Kandori…I've become Kandori…no…no…I'm nothing like him…she doesn't…no…the Chaos is…_" Reiji shout his hands out and clasped them around Eriko's neck, cutting her oxygen supply off. (A/N)

"**BITCH, I AM NOT KANDORI! I WILL NEVER BE! NEVER COMPARE ME TO THAT BASTERD **_**BROTHER OF MINE **_**EVERY AGAIN!**"

Reiji's yelling caused all to react, Masao and Kei jumped on his back to pull his arms off, Yukino and Maki went for his legs while Brown and Ayase cowered afraid to go near the monster of a boy who was almost frothing at the mouth.

Eriko gasped for breath as Reiji's jostled her back and forth his grip increasing. The others could not move him, his strength and stamina was restored with the Diarama, and now in Chaos Alignment he was an unmovable force; a juggernaut as he described himself.

"_DIE! DIE! DIE! I AM NOT HIM! I AM NOT HIM!_"

"_**SIRE! SIRE! STOP THIS MADNESS PLEASE!**_" A renowned toned voice pleaded in Reiji's mind.

"_**BRES! CAN IT! I TOLD YOU NOT TO TALK TO ME! I TOLD YOU NEVER TO SPEAK TO ME! NOW LEAVE ME BE! I'M GOING TO-**_"

"_**Sire, it appears you've lost…to him…again…**_"

"_WHAT?_" Reiji's grip loosened, his body un-straining at the feel of cold steel by his jugular.

"LET HER GO, KIDO! NOW!" Naoya sternly stated his demeanor completely changing from prior. He had drew his katana and extended it across Reiji's throat.

Reiji did as told, Eriko's frail figure slipping easily out his grasp. Naoya caught her unconscious body, swooning her in arms as he sheathed his katana. "Calm down, Kido, or else next time I won't hold back, Chaos Alignment or not."

Maki and Masao went to Naoya's side. Yukino and Kei went to Brown and Ayase.

"_I…I…tried to…_" Reiji thought. "_Kill her…why?_"

"_**Sire, I know you told me never to address you when you heard me those months ago, but this is important.**_"

"_Bres…what?_" Reiji's thoughts sounded weak.

"_**Your thoughts and actions attract the Chaos Alignment. It's a magnet for such behavior, Sire. When you enter this Alignment you're a danger to not only yourself, but your…friends…**_"

"_They're not my friends, Bres! I could care less about them!_"

"_**Then why do I feel your regret, Sire? Perhaps it's maybe time to share some of your burden. You've all ready given away a key detail, Sire. Your friends will be curious.**_"

"_They won't understand._"

"_**Why not try, Sire?**_"

"_Go away, Bres…I told you to not speak to me._"

"_**Yes, Sire, goodbye…**_"

Reiji kneeled and then sat Indian-style, sighing all the while. "I'm sorry, punk…"

"Your apology won't make up for the fact that you tried to kill her, Reiji."

"I know, but if you all are willing to listen, I want to explain to you all why I hate Kandori so much. If you'd let me that is."

Naoya nodded. "Maki can you wake Eriko with that Recarm Skill?"

"I should be able, Nao-kun, but after it I'll be pretty drained."

"It's all right, Maki. Do it please. Everyone else gather around."

Kei, Yukino, Brown, Ayase, Masao, and Naoya sat as Maki used Maso to revive Eriko who reluctantly sat to here the story of the man who strangled her, but was secretly giddy that Naoya had saved her.

(A/N: If you want to listen to a theme for this backstory that I believe fits it well, search up Epitaph by King Crimson and queue it up and start it at the next A/N. Thank you)

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Kandori heard and saw what had happened in the entrance hall via the mirror. He kept looking, listening, his ears perked at Reiji's readiness to tell the tale, the tale of his scar, the tale of how he was ruined.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

**(A/N) **"Now, what I'm about to say is a long story and I'd appreciate it if you don't ask to many questions or say much during it. It's hard enough for me to do this. First, let's start off with what I let slip…Takahisa Kandori is indeed my brother…" He hung his head in shame as everyone gasped.

"But to me, he's no brother of mine. He and his father Hotaru Kandori are to blame for everything that has happened to me. To tell the story, I have to began before I was born, back when my mother Misumi Kido was eighteen years younger and Takahisa Kandori was a high-ranking employee in the S.E.B.E.C. Building, his father the head of the company. My mother was his personal maid and secretary. She had worked at the company for several years, as long as Hotaru was president. It was a job that paid well, she needed the money, her husband had left her and our immediate family was gone, dead for ages. She had to make ends-meet for her apartment and S.E.B.E.C. paid more than enough even if she had to clean-up after the head of it. She told me that the only reason they probably hired her was because of her looks, she could tell because Hotaru was always eyeing her she said. She returned his eyeing she told me. They were attracted to each other and that was all they needed. Around in a company were the sunshine barely reached and enigmatic and deadly technologies were crafted, a romance had bloomed."

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

As Reiji spoke more Kandori thought of his own point of view at these events. "_It was far from a romance…Father had his way with that…slut in his own office no doubt…a one-night stand to him. The bitch ended up pregnant after that, telling my father she was going to keep it and she wanted him to known. From that point father lost his sanity, he kept preaching to me that I'd soon be president, he was going to retire and use his pension to support this new ill-conceived family. I wouldn't have such a travesties! I wouldn't allow Father to dig his own grave! The slut only wanted money, she had to be bluffing! It was all just leverage to manipulate my father! It had to be! Twelve months rolled by my Father was to resign at the child's birth and there the churlish spawn was: Reiji Kido! My brother! The filthy little thing was brought to me by that slut and Father. He wouldn't quit crying and crying! Wailing!_"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"Hotaru and my mother were going to marry. She'd brought me to the office to meet my brother, not even a month old. Hotaru was ready to retire at that point, but it was odd she told me he asked her out of the room, leaving me with Takahisa. She said that Hotaru accused her of trying to steal his hard-earned money using their affair child. She didn't understand, because prior to that he was fine with it."

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"_If Father wasn't going to see the skank was trouble I had to persuade him in a unique way. I bribed the phone company to put calls to news organizations on her company phone and had a copy made. Then I had my Father's credit cards maxed and his checking account cleared and paid the bank off to say it was transferred to the account of Misumi Kido. I confronted Father about this the day before, he said he'd take care of it, but Father was soft. I had to push more. Then, he'd left me with the ill-conceived brother of mine on his desk, his pen knifes and papers by a box ready to be packed. He wouldn't stop his crying! It muffled my Father and slut's back and forth! I couldn't hear! The brat, my brother, who shamed my family with his dirty Kido blood, who was also meant to receive a portion of my share of the will was laying there screaming because of a lack of his mother's nipple! I wouldn't have it! I wouldn't have such a nothing, such a useless cur be a part of this family! I'd brand him! I'd make sure for all his life, he'd be marked as unwanted, as nothing!_"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"What Takahisa Kandori did that day haunted me for life, for years, his words and laughter echoing in my nightmares. He took up his Father's pen knife and…" His lips whimpered.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"_AND I STUCK THE KNIFE IN THE WHINING BRATS FOREHEAD, AS SHALLOW AND DEEP AS MY HANDS ALLOWED! THE POINT WAS TO SCAR NOT KILL! I CARVED AN "X" IN THE PORCELAIN SKIN AND HE CRIED AND CRIED! AN X FOR HIM TO KNOW HE WAS NOTHING! NOT WANTED! I YELLED AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS, WITH EVERY OUNCE OF BREATH: REIJI KIDO, YOU ARE NOTHING, A PITIFUL CHURLISH PRODUCT ILL-CONCEIVED BY YOUR WHORE OF A MOTHER! THIS X REMEMBER IS YOUR BRAND FROM ME YOUR DEAR OLDER BROTHER TAKAHISA KANDORI! THIS BRAND IS MY SPECIAL MARK TO YOU SO YOU FOREVER KNOW WHO CAST YOU OUT OF A GOOD LIFE! WHO CAST YOU INTO HELL! CRY! CRY! CRY SOME MORE! YOU'LL CRY THE REST OF YOU LIFE WITH ANGER BOILING INSIDE YOU FOR ETERNITY HAHAHAHAHAAHAAHAH!_"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"Only a month old, I can vividly remember those words, hear them knowing my own brother scarred me. After that Hotaru fired my mother and threw us out. He wanted to make sure that she'd never be able to collect or go to the press. Takahisa planted drugs at her work station, Hotaru submitted that's why she was fired. They both spread the word far and wide destroying her creditability. She couldn't find a job and she couldn't go to the press, she couldn't even sue. The Kandori Family had made sure, paying through the noses to ensure she wouldn't reach anyone who could help her. They left her beaten and broken for cash, all she could do from then on was what she had to do." Reiji gulped, not wanting to emit what his mother had to do to raise him.

"Beside that she was a seamstress. She weaved and sewn clothes for each of us and sold them as best as she could. She did this for years, developing arthritis in her hands and back. She found the money to put me through elementary school and eventually high-school by that time she was detrimental to her own health. I couldn't sit by and watch. I went out at night and I picked a fight with whoever didn't suspect it, I hadn't to get the cash to help her out. I couldn't watch her destroy herself anymore. I didn't want to wake up one more and see she had driven herself into the ground. When I was old enough to understand what had happened with my scar, understanding the words I often heard in my nightmares. I promised not to cry, I promised to my mother and myself I'd right the wrong. I didn't know how until I was eighteen when I picked those fights because I did not want to wake up the next day an cry because of my mother killing herself with the consistent pain."

"One night, there was bet on the streets. It was an all-out brawl, everyone putting a thousand yen plus in a pot. Whoever was the last man standing gained the winnings. I entered, taking the money I had beaten-out of others and went into the brawl. I barely made it out, but I was the hungriest, the most devoted at of any of those guys. Then out of nowhere, when I pocketed the cash I hear this voice, then I lost consciousness and found myself in a platform like the one Philemon has, but this guy was different he was shrouded in darkness and wouldn't give me his name. He told me he had plans for me to help my brother and gave me the ability called Persona. From there I could feel the power having discovered how to utilize it on my own. From there I knew what I had to do. I had my way of killing the man who wronged my mother and marked me with a permanent scar as an infant. I just needed the time and when the Deva System went up, I knew it was Kandori's move and I had to take the opportunity. I'd kill him, take my revenge, and then take a piss on his father's grave. Hotaru's death didn't stop it, Kandori kept the despair and grief up, I had no one to turn to but myself. That's why I have to kill Kandori. If it wasn't for him, my mother wouldn't be like she is now. She'd be happy, she'd be lively, she'd be able smile and say "I love life."

"Now do you see? I can't leave this place! Kandori has to die today! My brother has to die today! I can't allow him to laugh at the name Kido any longer! I can't let his foot keep stomping us! He has to die and know that I did it! It's the only way!"

Naoya pondered his words, taking in the story just as the others were. "_They won't understand. I'm a detached son of a bitch. I've stewed in this situation for eighteen years. They can't sympathize with me. They can't empathize with me. They can't comprehend the things my mother has done, has to do just to get by. Bres is a moron! Just like them! They're damned fools and the world is in there hands._"

"Reiji…" Naoya slowly said.

"Are going to leave now and let me do this?"

Naoya stood as did Reiji, both staring at each other, Naoya having to look up. "I'm sorry, Reiji, but…"

"Punk! I'm-"

"I can't let you sit here and suffer on your own, Reiji!"

Reiji stopped. "Huh?"

"I don't care if what we say disgusts you or if you think were idiots who don't understand what your reasoning is. All I care about is the safety of all of us and that includes you Reiji. I won't willing leave this place knowing you're going to wreck yourself beyond belief. This motivation is warranted, yes, but there's an easier way to do this. Come with us, I know your itching to kill Kandori, but we all have to get out of here, back to our world, we all have to kick Kandori off his throne to save our world. We all have the same motivation, Reiji, to get to Kandori and right the wrongs he has done. Yes, you may want to kill him and we don't, but it wouldn't sit right with me if you killed yourself and I could have stopped it. It's how I am, how I act. I know Mark wouldn't want it like that either."

"Why do you two care? I've been a ass to every single one of you for the entirety of our time-together! I don't even call any of you by your names! I glared you down and antagonized you punk! I questions Four-Eyes intelligence and leadership skills! I choked out Kirishima! Blondie and Ass-hat over there can testify that I've rode them like horses to a "t" since I've been in with you guys! I held a gun to the Yankee's head and I'm sure she loathes me! I roughed up Sonomura because her compassionate whining! I threaten Inaba into making a decision to kill the Queen or I would! I've done nothing that deserves compassion from any of you! So, why do you care, punk! Why would you care for my well-being? Why would any of you?"

Naoya sighed in annoyance. "You don't get it Reiji do you?"

"NO! I DON'T PUNK!"

Masao grinned, stepping in. "Okay, dude, let's employ a little Anime into this shall we."

Kei rolled his eyes. "Typical,"

Yukino agreed. "That's Masao."

Reiji was off put a bit, not knowing what Masao would say at all. "_This'll be interesting._"

"We're nakama, Reiji. That so difficult." Masao said, smiling.

"N-nakama?" Reiji was struck with the words. "We're nakama?"

"Like, what's that mean?" Ayase questioned.

Brown found that he'd be best to answer this one to avoid others from yelling at her. "Well, Ayase, it's a term that's," Brown halted his explanation at Yukino's join in the conversation.

"Explain it to me, Brown. I'm a Yankee remember, not originally from here, not all to familiar with these weird terms."

Brown rubbed his chin, amazed that the great Yukino Mayuzumi asked him for answers. "Well, it's a term that's used to describe-"

Reiji stole his thunder. "It's a term used to describe comrades or friends. Used by a protagonist to describe those who fight beside him or with him or his friends in general. Do you really see me as a friend or a comrade, Inaba? Punk? Four-Eyes? Kirishima? Sonomura? Blondie? Ass-hat? Yankee?"

Masao gave him a thumps up. "You can be asinine sometimes, man, I almost hated you forever for grabbing Maki like that back in the Kama Palace, but you're okay just need to keep it easy and chill out sometimes, dude."

Maki smiled holding her chest. "You can be rude and mean sometimes, but your story made me cry so I can't say I won't help you or heal you anymore. I want Kandori to pay to, just no more death, okay?"

Ayase pouted. "Like, I don't care! As soon as this over, I'll forget I ever met you!"

Eriko adjusted her ascot, covering the minor bruise on her neck. "Well, your story is understandable and I apologies for what I said earlier. You're still the anti-hero just watch those antagonistic traits. I won't forgive a second strangulation."

Nanjo pushed up his glasses. "I have a deep-seated opinion of you Kido and I don't want to offend you with what I truly think, because it would be in poor taste for this moment. You should know that I value you as a comrade to help this battle against Kandori. This is as much your fight as it is ours."

Brown waved casually as if breaking-the-ice. "Well, I can't really say, R.K., but…I know the feeling of being alone, you know, I had a close-nit group of friends and squandered there friendship away because I was a cowered. Then all I had from there was people who were entertained and I'm just now feeling what that true friendship again. So, as much as you make me your bitch because I'm scared shitless of you, I know where you're coming from R.K. and I'll help you fight."

"Wow, didn't expect Brown to say something like that?" Yukino stated, flabbergasted.

Brown snickered, rubbing the underside of his knows. "Heh, it was all Tyr, baby. Don't get use to it."

"With that aside," Yukino addressed Kido. "Friend your not to me Kido, I don't know you and you put a gun to my head. Companion you are, we'll need all the help we can get to take down Kandori and you're strong enough for me to say keep your around."

Masao was up again. "I all ready said what I have to say, Reiji. We're companions and maybe when this is over, you can open-up that tough exterior and you can hang with Nao, Maki, and I."

"That leaves you, Nao-kun?" Maki said.

Naoya and Reiji continued to stare, he offered his hand. "I know we all ready shook hands before after I agreed to keep being leader, but I want this handshake to express my feelings. We're companions Reiji, I would say we could be friends. I know I cannot talk you out of wanting to kill Kandori, but I want you to be a part of this group. I want you to come with us. Shake my hand if you agree."

Reiji hesitated, but soon did. "On one condition, punk. I'll follow you guys till the end, I'll help you save the world if need be, but when we get to Kandori, he's mine. You got that! You agree to that and I'm all yours!"

Naoya shook. "Agreed!"

Reiji's scowl, broke into a half-smile. "What are we waiting for then? Let's hit the Lost Woods and get that mirror half. I'll wait for the crack at Kandori."

They group came close together and exited the castle, Reiji reflecting on their words. "_We're nakama, huh? Mother always said to try and make friends, but I couldn't. I was a rough-houser, I was anti-social, I was quiet, and I wouldn't let a soul talk to me. I was fixated on Kandori that I let things I thought were trivial such as friendship pass me by and now I've developed it. These people care for some reasons. They've healed me, choose to keep me along with them. Hell, the punk, agreed to let me take Kandori down when we get there and I was sure he hated me the most. Inaba I was sure hated my guts, but maybe they all understood my story…understood this scar…empathized with me….sympathized with me…is that what friendship is…people who know you…people who care for you…is this friendship…do I deserve it?_"

* * *

><p><strong>Persona: Be Your True Mind<strong>

****A/N: it may be in poor taste, but "Is Reiji Kido gonna have to choke a bitch?"

Also for those of you who have never watched One Piece, you probably won't know what I was getting at with the Nakama and Anime intertwine there.

Phew that was a doozey. I don't know how to explain anything. I couldn't find the words at times to proper express what I wanted to express. I hope everyone understands and I don't really want to try to explain why I feel Epitaph relates well to his back-story. I did embellish a tiny bit in a few cases to better explain it and it's never explicitly stated that Kandori gave Reiji his scar, but in my novelization that is how it happens that is his back-story and that's how it its. Now, I know you've just read filler, I know it myself and I hate writing filler, but this was a perfect opportunity to introduce the reasons of WHY Reiji hates Kandori and WHY he wants him DEAD. Also if you didn't catch on back in Chapter 7, Reiji was granted his Persona in my novelization by Philemon's competitor, if you didn't realize it. I didn't go into detail, because I'm trying to keep his identity, motives, and design a secret for later chapters to explain WHY he gave him Reiji the ability of Persona. And the reason as to why Bres was able to talk to him from months ago than the others not only because they were granted them at different times will be revealed in chapter 20 I believe because that's when it's explained why they can hear their Persona's words. Be patient if you're wonder. And not gonna lie next chapter's gonna be a litter filler inspired to create some running characters you'll see throughout the rest of the novelizations in the series. So, I hope you enjoyed Chapter Sixteen of Persona: Be Your True Mind, and I'll see you next time for Chapter Seventeen: Jack Bros.

Ayase: Like, yay! We said stuff this chapter!

Yukino: It's about damn time!

Brown: Yeah, I mean I realize you decided to take a cast of nine characters and some how equally develop them all and give them each dialogue, but come on I'm awesome! I deserve more lines!

Kei: You are fantasizing, Uesugi. If any of us needs additional lines it is Yukino.

Masao: Hey, Nanjo, you're actually sticking up for your girlfriend, that's a first.

Kei & Yukino: *Blush* Shut up, Masao…

Maki: Bye bye everyone! See ya next time!

Myself: Peace out!


	17. Chapter 17: Jack Bros

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything_

In response to RaidEye: First I'd like to say I appreciate the feedback and in no way in the following response do I mean to sound aggressive. In essence I could have toned the scenes down in some instances and embellished a little less. The problem with that is that the regular back story is vague and I was trying to explain WHY Reiji was wronged. In the game the simplest way to put it is Reiji's mother had an affair with Kandori's father, she got pregnant, Kandori and his father threw her out on the street and that's it. To me or to someone else that really wouldn't equal to I MUST AVENGE MY MOTHER SEVENTEEN OR EIGHTEEN YEARS INTO EXISTENCE so I thought the motivation to why Reiji wants to kill Kandori is because Kandori was a part of what ruined his mothers life and to Reiji who only had his mother to care for him, including the whole common thing were the son is really attached to his mother, which in the game is how it is somewhat.

Now to Kandori: the way that Kandori is portrayed is how he is in the game. His Arcana is the Tower which hasn't been revealed in the story, but the hinting at the tallest tower in his semi-monologue was supposed to foreshadow it. His Arcana being the Tower means he has an ego the size of the planet, is prejudiced and is related to an authoritarian organization. Take note all of this is being multiplied by his Chaos Alignment granted by his Persona. All this translates out to how you put it, he's evil, he knows it, he detests Reiji and others who obstruct to his journey to god status, he finds them as playthings, nuisances, pawns, and he likes to laugh at their dismay especially Reiji who he has wronged as a child and has watched him squirm for his whole life. It's suppose to reflect how the Tower Arcana represents the overly arrogance that comes with it, that's why in the game he's the PRESIDENT of S.E.B.E.C. and he has a CASTLE in the other world and he wishes to become GOD himself. All of those positions, President, King, God are high caliber roles that are the highest in their own regimes or units and most of them have their own distinctive egos due to them being of the highest standing. I'm using what the game gives me and trying to push that along as best as I can. All of these factors relate to the Tower Arcana and his ego. I'm sorry if he comes off as generic and stereotypical, but I didn't create the character and just to say it now he's isn't always like that just wait until Chapter 24, you'll see he's a little bit different than the usual antagonist who wants to obtain power to rule over others. Either way, dude, I do appreciate the feedback, glad to get the constructive criticism from somebody to help me improve what I can.

This chapter is Comic relief/Filler to set up two recurring support characters that will be returning for each novelization in the series in varied ways. Of course any MegaTen Amateur could've probably figured out who they were from the outro of the last chapter. With that aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind, Chapter Seventeen.

* * *

><p><em>Chapter Seventeen: Jack Bros<em>

The Lost Forest was actually located on the other side of the town where the Police Station was in the original Mikage. As the group traversed through the subway system again, dodging as many demon encounters as possible along the way, Maki told them that up to several months ago the Lost Forest used to be a scenic flower garden that held numerous types of flowers: roses, lilies, apple blossoms, forget-me-nots, camellias, azaleas, hawthorns, goldenrods, and Maki's personal favorites cattails and lotuses. Cattails meant peace and prosperity and lotus meant longevity, good health, and good luck positive tones for her positive attitude she thought.

"Then, it all was gone, I can't remember when or how or strangely even what the garden looks like anymore." Maki explained.

One day the garden was gone as Maki said, replaced with a forest far from beautiful. The Lost Woods was considered to be a hedge maze disguised as a forest. The gray oak trees sporting their lilac and violet leaves grew up to the size of the police station, intricately spaced and positioned to create a parameter that encased the hedge maze. The column ways all were the same and trees had sprouted so close together they were merged at the base to prevent cutting through the different alcoves, bends, and twists. That is why the members of St. Hermelin in the other Mikage had named it the Lost Forest. They had barely managed to find their way out after curiously entering in expecting to find a surprise or reward in the center if they could find the solution.

"Here we are: the Lost Forest…" Maki announced, the nine arriving at the opening made by the parted ashen, purple leaved trees. "_I think it's grown taller since last time. I hope the inside hasn't._"

They closed in through the darkness to find themselves at a fork. Unlike the atmosphere of the subway, the Black Market, the other side of the city, the Lost Forest was homey. The tree tops were spaced out to let in the suns rays and the leaves glowed with a distinct pink that resembled the lights of fireflies. The leaves acted as lanterns adorned to the trunks to illuminate the two pathways.

Maki inhaled the scent of the woods as they approached closer to the fork. "_This air is so…fresh…rich, it isn't like the normal air at all. In fact this whole place has a nice and comfy feeling, almost serene I guess. The outsides not like this at all. Demons at every corner, everyone armed to protect themselves. Its all a bunch of abhorrent killing and it taints the air…to me at least. I always find it hard to swallow…but here…I feel at home…I feel like the air is purified and this place is innocent, harmless, the complete opposite of everything else._ _That's odd…I don't think I've ever felt this way before._"

Naoya watched Maki as she pondered on the trees and the skies and the soil beneath their feet as if seeing it all for the first time or in a new perspective than before. He was about to address her.

Kei cleared his throat. "Two paths, Todo, what's your assessment?"

"Chances are with two paths and what Maki has told us…we have another maze on our hands, guys." Naoya stated.

Masao sighed in disbelief. "You gotta be shittin' me…more forks and mazes. I hate mazes." Mark slumped in defeat.

"Suck it up, Masao. Could be worse," Reiji stated, crossing his arms.

"How could it be worse?"

"Could be hot as hell."

"Good point…"

"Todo, point of action? What are we doing?" Kei asked, anxiously.

"Well, as much as I don't want to admit it, but with what little daylight we have left, we're going to have to split up into two teams." Naoya explained.

Maki's attention was caught by his words. "Nao-kun, the others tried that before and they said they barely regrouped."

"I know it's dangerous Maki, but Philemon's said we have until the day's end. We're low on time, right now, and I'm feeling backed into a corner." Naoya replied, trying to remain composed, overwhelmed by this tranquil, unknown surroundings.

"So, how are we splitting, Nao?" Yukino asked, stepping close to Kei's side.

Naoya pondered the thought for a moment.

"_I'm not comfortable with this, but Nao-kun's the leader and he has to know what he's doing. Yet, this feeling I have…a presence in the forest, I can't tell where it is or if it's good or bad, but I can feel it and that worries me._"

Naoya cleared his throat and announced the teams reluctantly. "With two paths and nine of us we're have one team of four and the second of five. Kei, I want you to lead the second team. Brown, Ayase, Yukino you three are with him. You'll take the first path. Eriko, Maki, Reiji, Mark, and I will tackle the other way."

"Like, if we split up, how are we, you know, like, suppose to find each other if we find what we need to?" Ayase asked.

Yukino rolled her eyes. "Wow, she asked an important and actually intelligent question. I'm shocked." She hissed to Kei, who felt content to almost snicker.

"Well, Ayase, that's where you come in?" Naoya stated.

"Like, what?" Ayase asked puzzled, pointing to herself.

"The tree tops part in a open way, if you guys find Mai and what we need to get into Kandori's castle, then you'll send us a flare with Hori. If we find it, I'll use Seimen Kongo to send you a signal."

"That's a noteworthy solution, N.T., but if this place is as confusing as Maki said, how are we gonna meet up with each other." Brown asked, perplexed.

"That is simple, Uesugi, drawing a line in the dirt. That can be your job." Kei ordered, soaking in his own ego.

"And I'll carve us signs in the bark to mark our trail, no problem." Masao added, retrieving a pen knife from a side pocket in his backpack.

"If we're all settled," Naoya said, loosening the strap of his MP5. "Let's head out."

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Kei pushed onward, sneering at Brown's incapability to drag the tip of his spear in the soft earth. "Uesugi, banish the thought from your mind, please. You are irritating me with your delays."

"Gee, sorry, Nanjo…I'll be sure to not even bother from now on." Brown retorted.

"Feh," Kei sighed, having realized Brown was not going to be as submissive or callous to Kei's words as he was prior to his revelation. "Perhaps I should restrain my harshness of words and the edge of my ego." He said, quietly to himself.

"Nah, let Brown be Brown, and let you be you." Yukino openly said out-loud.

"Like, this place is creepy!" Ayase shrieked, dragging behind with Brown as Yukino and Kei kept walking ahead. She cringed at the vibe of the shadows, the spots of setting sun poking through the violet leaves. A shiver ran up her spine at the hasty chirps of crickets and the cries of the cicadas. The enclosed path the trunks made with their crunched and robust exterior and interior made the perfect walls. The dancing colorful radiation mixed with the sun's yellow rays made a pseudo-ceiling. The dark choked her, blinded her, she felt loneliness creep in the posterior of her mind, consuming her until-

"Yo, Ayase, you okay?" Brown asked.

The paleness of her face faded as she turned to Brown who was abreast to her. "Like, I guess." There was sweat on her brow and the coiled whip was slipping from her greased palm.

"You were spacing, huh? Forget I mentioned it." Brown tilted his spear and was ready to move on.

"Brown, wait!" She urgently shouted, causing him to halt.

"What's up?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Stay here with me, please." She beckoned, distinct fear in her pupils. "Like, I'll even let you hold my hand." Her fakeness returning.

"You sure? You're not gonna leave me in the dust again are you."

She dropped her guard. "I'm sorry…" Her lips quivered. "I'm scared, okay. Like just hold my hand, please!" Ayase slipped her fingers in between Brown's open hand and squeezed hard, causing both of them to blush.

"S-s-s-s-s-sure, you can hold my h-h-h-hand, just don't l-l-l-l-let go." Brown stuttered, shell-shocked.

"Thanks…" She giggled.

"Aw, ain't that cute, Kei, another pair of love birds." Yukino commented, keeping pace with him.

"An unlikely couple. As if a raven and a dove were paired together."

"I wouldn't say that. The two of em' are like a crow and scarecrow if you think about it."

"Both of which to the other is something that they don't want but are always there, yes." Kei replied, intrigued.

"Yep, a crow to a scarecrow and a scarecrow to the crow. Both are always there to annoy the other."

"Well, it is more along the lines of they're both there to incense everyone else."

Yukino smiled at Kei. "Yeah, I guess. What would you compare us to, then?"

Kei was in awe for a moment. "Us? I'm not quite sure what-"

In the black, a lone spark flickered to life. It bobbed with a slight glare. It was a minor flame, waltzing in circles in the air, attracting the eyes of all four and ceasing their walking. It magnetized their gaze, they wanted to know where it was from and what it was going to do. It was just a tiny spark, the size that would fit a lantern. It gently receded, not in terms of the flame, but in movement. It backed into the shadows of the trees, the fire not evaporating. It didn't waver, it was kept ignited and fueled.

Kei spotted a faint lens flare, paying it no mind. "I surmise we should heed it's call."

"It's hell of a lot better than wondering aimlessly in this damn maze." Yukino replied.

"Then, let's give chase."

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Maki heard rustling of the branches from the wind. She was lost in thought again, following Naoya lead into each turn. "_We're getting closer to what I'm feeling. Am I homing in on this Mai? I don't think we've ever met. What is this familiarity? I can't think…my memory is hazy…what's going on? Wait…I remember…I felt this way the first day I ran into Aki before Chisato and Yosuke showed up. Now that I remember it, the garden changed before I encountered Aki too. The Lost Forest appeared here…with Aki…that has to be it…but when was that…how was that…the Deva System…Kandori…he has a deeper part in this…he…had…to have effected this world with the Deva System, but why and how? I'm sure the others, at least, Nao-kun and Kei are thinking this over too. This is a mystery that surely will be solved with Kandori._"

Naoya glanced at the upcoming turning, he saw Eriko out the corner of his eye. She was approaching him. "What's up, Eriko?" He asked, looking at her to her own surprise.

"Oh, brave leader, I uh…" She paused a moment. "I wanted to thank you for saving me earlier."

Naoya shook his head, as if he was disappointed. "That wasn't me, Eriko." He sighed. "That was the Chaos…I lost myself again back there…" He hung his head, gaining a defeat demeanor.

Eriko rubbed the minor bruises on her throat, recalling that she passed out right as Naoya came to her rescue. "I thought you had this new alignment? What was the white from?"

"Back when we fought Genbu, I had aligned myself in this neutral alignment Igor described to me."

"Neutral alignment?"

"Think of it as the middle of Chaos and Law. Igor explained, to keep balance, your thoughts have to be of everyone, not solely yourself, but everyone, including friends, family, the people you care for."

"Then, how did the Chaos-"

"When Reiji grabbed you, my thoughts shifted…I…" Naoya sharply hissed, clamping his eyelids shut. "I…I had dismissed the compassion I gained for him and thought of him as an enemy. The Chaos overpowered my mind until I drew my katana across his throat. If he hadn't let you go, the Chaos wouldn't have retreated until he was dead."

Eriko lowered her own head, empathizing with Naoya. "Naoya, brave leader…I'm sorry I worried you…I had no idea how hard it must be to keep your thoughts straight. I always try to remain unbiased and center my mind at one thing so I guess I will never know the experience of this alignment change."

Naoya's lips curled into a half-smile. "Don't worry, Eriko. It's not your fault."

Eriko matched his smile as she did his head position. Her giddy vigor returned. "Thank you for caring for me, Naoya!"

Naoya stared up at the sky, his cheeks heating up. "No p-p-problem,"

"I mean you lost this neutral alignment because I was in danger. I feel that I can't say thank you enough."

"Once is all right, Eriko." Naoya replied.

Reiji sneered, having heard their conversation. "I'm such an idiot." He said to himself.

"You can say that again." Masao said after marking a tree with an "X."

Reiji glared. "You don't know what I'm talking about, Inaba."

"I can figure." He retorted, having heard the conversation as well.

"As if…" Reiji hook his thumps in his khakis and attempted to move away.

"You know, if you're fully collaborating with us now, Reiji, you gotta learn to not shoulder the burden by yourself."

"I don't need pity, Inaba. I thought I made that clear. If we're nakama, or comrades or whatever the hell term you use to define the relationship, then you should learn to leave my business alone."

"You realize not even an hour ago you spilled your guts to us, right?"

"Different time, different place, different scenario, different story…"

"They why are you hung up on nearly choking out Eriko?"

Reiji glared again. "Shut up, Inaba."

"That is what's eating at you right? Can't imagine why? You been under it's control since the beginning, right?"

Reiji tightened his fist. "No, I was NOT, Inaba. Only since this whole fiasco started which in total has spanned two days. That's it."

"Hey, you know, we all can turn at the drop of the hat? You don't have to think you're the only one." Masao proposed as Reiji loosened his fist and put it back in his pocket.

"I know that! It's how much stronger that Chaos was worries me!" Reiji blurted with out realizing.

Masao titled his head. "How's that? You seemed used to it."

"Not when me and the punk threw down or when I went ape-shit at the door or when I strangled Kirishima…it took complete control there and I couldn't do anything until I was snapped out of it."

"Maybe, it's stronger when your darker thoughts are stronger." Masao suggested, remembering Naoya's outbursts.

Reiji actually nodded. "If the strength of the thoughts is key then its explained. When the punk challenged me, my mind went nuts. NO one has every talked shit to me and got away with it. The gate was another obstacle and another gasket to blow. When Kirishima compared me to my brother, I…wanted to silence her…make sure she could never say it again…that's why I'm an idiot, Inaba, because I let this Chaos control me to the point where I could have killed someone innocent."

"Now, your care for the innocents?" Masao challenged harshly. "Sounds as if you're drifted in the alignments. Good sign of things to come if you're doing it." He positively said.

"What the hell does that mean?"

"You're not as big of a dick as before."

"What about you, huh, Inaba? How come you haven't changed alignments at all?" Reiji retorted.

Masao cupped his chin. "No idea…I mean I have had those chaotic, devastating thoughts before, but I don't think I held on to them long enough or stewed in them enough for the Chaos to take control. I think the only reason you and Naoya fell into it is because you keep thinking about it over and over until it builds. I just chill and relax out the stress."

"You ARE a fucking stoner." Reiji hissed.

Maki grimaced. "_Reiji and Masao are getting along, Nao-kun and Eriko are chatting. I can only hope the others are as quiet and safe as we are. Except this feeling, it's closing in._"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"I GOT IT!" Brown leaped in the air at the spinning spark, annoyed that it evaded each of his grabs. "THIS'LL TEACH YOU TO LEAD US ON A WILD GOOSE-CHASE!"

They had followed the spark and it was a poor judgment call due to it taking them through twists and turns at a high speed and led them way off course to a dead-end they had no idea how to backtrack from.

Brown gritted his teeth, dead-sure he cornered the spark at the dead-end, but at the last second it jerked to the right and Hidehiko landed on his face. "Come on!"

"Uesugi, quit fooling around! It's unfeasible to catch flame with your bare hands!" Kei chided, noticing the spark circling above their heads taunting them.

"Hee ho, suckers! You-hee fell for it!" A cackling, squeaky tone voice mocked.

"Who, like, said that?" Ayase asked thin-air.

"It's the spark, Ayase!" Yukino pointed to it.

Kei narrowed his eyes. "Show yourself, demon!" He drew his broadsword.

"Hee-caught me-hee!" The flame grew larger, illuminating it's container, an old-style oil lantern, held in gloved hands. These hands were disembodied to a levitating cloak a mere two feet in length. The cloak wrapped around itself. It hovered under a bright orange pumpkin, a jack-o-lantern to be precise. It's eyes, nose, and jagged mouth were cut out. The inside was pitch black except for the eye holes which had their own real pupils. Resting on the top of the pumpkin was a pointed blue hate the same material as the cloak with a white stripe around the brim.

"Give me your name!"

"Why-hee should I-hee?" The pumpkin demon spun in placing, the fire of his lantern streaming with him. "I-hee have no reason-hee?"

"You'll give me your name, demon!" Kei shouted. "Or I'll kill you without mercy!"

"I get it…intimidate him to make him talk." Yukino whispered.

The pumpkin stopped short in his spin, his carved-out eyes and mouth cowering in fright as animated as a human. "Don't-hee hurt me-hee!" He spun in a 180 degree circle and flew away fast crying. "I-hee just didn't want you-hee to hurt Mistress Mai-hee!"

"Follow him! We're getting to the bottom of this!" Kei ordered, running with his broadsword as Brown recovered to catch up with the pace.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Maki shuddered, not in fear, not in cold, instead in intuition like her body was sending her a mental message not to advance. "_This…it's close…I have to tell Nao-kun_…"

Naoya and Eriko were kibitzing while Masao and Reiji were tailing while markings and engaged in their own conversation. "Nao-kun…" She mumbled.

Naoya's ear perked. "Yeah, Maki?" He casually replied, having barely heard her.

Maki weakly pursed her lips. "I don't know why or what it is or what it's intention are…I can feel two…no…three…things in this forest. One is…" Maki shuddered, distinguishing the feelings. "One is in the middle of the Lost Woods, I can feel it. The second is…on the other side where Kei and the others are…it's moving to this side. The last one…is up ahead…I'm sure of it." She was definite in her response.

"How are we handling it, Nao?" Masao asked, him and Reiji grouping with them.

"It's closing in Nao-kun…" Maki clutched her arms. "_This isn't fear, this isn't excitement, it's…nostalgia_…"

Images sped passed in her mind, images of Aki, a living jack-o-lantern with a shroud and hat, a young girl resembling Aki in a matching white dress, and what Maki could only describe as a living snowman wearing a jesters hat flooding her brain. The pictures outlined a unique relationship between the two girls in clashing colors and the snowman and jack-o-lantern of clashing elements. The four were a missed-matched, non-immediate family from what Maki was able to cognize.

"_These memories…_" The veins in Maki's forehead and neck strained as she assimilated the abrupt intrusion of these new-found memories. "_A pair of brothers and a pair of sisters. Those girls are Aki and Mai. Those…demons…brothers…are…Jack Frost and Pyro Jack. How do I know that? Why do I remember that?_"

"Maki! Maki!" Masao called. "Maki, are you okay?"

The stress she expressed melted away to her usual bearing. "I'm fine, Masao-kun."

"Maki," Naoya said. "These things coming at us how far along are they?"

"It's not a problem, Nao-kun."

"What do you mean, Maki? You just told me-"

"I know he won't hurt us."

Masao felt the need to ask what everyone was thinking. "Maki, how can you be su-"

"I got ya, amihos! You-ho won't lay-ho a hand-ho on Mistress Mai-ho!" A creaky tone voice shouted.

Down on Mark's skull came a rubber mallet, wielded in the snow-made hands of a living snowman that had jumped from a branch. The snowman was pure white, the ball of snow his body, with actual legs, decorated in blue snow boots and short arms with only four fingers. His head was a round-ball of snow with two ovals of black for eyes, no nose, and a wide horizontal half-oval of black for a mouth, with the addition of two dainty fangs protruding. The snowman was wearing a blue snow cap with long, stretching jester ears and a jester's neck ruffle. Patched into the forehead section of the cap was a yellow smiley face.

"SHIT!" Mark went down with a bang at the drop of the hammer. "Damn…demons…and their cheap shots…"

Reiji was nearest and the initial person to react. "Little bastard! Eat this!" He pulled back his fist, as the demon snowman leaped off Masao's slouching back into the air.

"Reiji, no! Don't hurt him!" Maki pleading, throwing her arms out to reach his.

She was too late as Reiji's bare-knuckled punch connected with the snowman and sent him flying into the dirt at a supreme speed.

"WAH!" The demon sat Indian-style, a comical bruise on his snowy ball of a head. He was crying with Eriko and Naoya looking at him as Reiji helped Masao. "WHY-HO YOU HIT ME-HO?"

"Because you hit me, idiot!" Masao exclaimed. "AND STOP CRYING!"

The snowmen flipped backwards, running through Eriko's spaced legs, crying still. "BYE-HO!"

Eriko instinctively pushed down her skirt at the flutter of wind the demon had produced in his dash. "Brave leader, I haven't heard of a demon like that before." She informed.

"I can still see him…we can chase him." Naoya proposed.

"Won't be necessary, Nao-kun." Maki stated. "JACK FROST! REIJI DIDN'T MEAN TO HIT YOU! COME BACK, FOR ME, PLEASE!"

The rushing snowman known as Jack Frost halted in his escape, answering to Maki's voice. "Mistress Mai-ho…HEY-HO LADY-HO! YOU-HO SOUND LIKE MISTRESS MAI-HO!"

"You can say we know each other, Jack Frost! So, please, come here for me!"

"But-ho…you guys want to hurt…Mistress Mai-ho…"

"No, Jack Frost, we want to-"

"JACK FROST!" A second squeaky voice yelled as a lit lantern held in the hands of a living jack-o-lantern flew into the scene next to the snowman.

"Pyro Jack! Where the other amihos?"

Pyro Jack eyes were spurting tears. "They-hee where gonna kill me-hee!"

"Those amihos there?" Jack Frost pointed to Kei, Ayase, Brown, and Yukino standing behind Pyro Jack.

"What-hee about those, amihos?" Pyro Jack pointed to Naoya, Maki, Masao, Eriko, and Reiji standing behind Jack Frost.

"AH!" They went back-to-back. "We-hee won't-ho let-hee you-ho hurt-hee Mistress Mai-ho!" They simultaneously yelled.

"It appears you have your own pest to deal with, Todo. Ours has been giving us trouble for twenty minutes." Kei said.

"I doubt yours hit you in the head with a hammer!" Masao snarled.

"Either way, they know of the presence of this Mai." Kei cut straight to their objective.

"Perhaps they can tell us where she is." Naoya said.

"NO-HEE WAY-HO!" The two Jacks jumped ten feet in the air. "JACK BROS SECRET TECHNIQUE!"

Jack Frosted cupped his hands to the side, gathering a combination of ice and snow with a hoary energy glowing. "BUFULA!" He unleashed the Skill as a stream of the snow and ice.

Pyro Jack sided his lantern to where his hip would have been if he had a figure, the spark of the lantern filling it's canister. "AGILAO!" He swung the lantern forward with Jack Frost's hands, unleashing a burst of flame.

"JACK BROS DUO ATTACK!"

Unfortunately for the brothers, the attack was not much of an attack. The Agilao of fire and the Bufula of ice collided with each other on the way down to the Persona-Users. The flames and snow liquefying at immediate contact and raining a benign sprinkle on them instead of a dangerous attack as they attended.

"WAH! NOT AGAIN-HEE!" The two plopped themselves on ground level in defeat.

"What are we, like, gonna do with em'?" Ayase asked.

"They obviously didn't want us to find this Mai, so they have to know where she is." Yukino explained.

"We ain't talkin'?" They both crossed their arms, pouting with their cartoonish jaws.

"_Maybe if they know they can trust us, they'll help. Kei probably scared Pyro Jack with an idle threat to make them talk. You have to be sweet and kind…_" Maki kneeled to the Jack Bros. "You may not know me, but I know the both of you."

"Really-hee? How-ho?" They gasped slightly, surprised.

"Yep, you're the Jack Bros, Pyro Jack and Jack Frost, right?"

"Yeah!" They exclaimed in enthusiasm.

"I'm Maki, I know Mai…we aren't here to hurt her…we want to talk with her…so can you two take us to her, please?" Maki poured on the charm and the cutest and softest voice available.

The brothers turned to each other, huddling, to discuss the situation in private. "You-hee think we should?"

"She-ho does look like Mistress Mai-ho."

"She-hee even feels like Mistress Mai-hee and Mistress Aki-hee too."

"She-ho can help-ho bring back Mistress Aki-ho?"

"Let's-hee see…they're-hee Persona-Users...I can-hee feel that too."

The jack-o-lantern and snowman replied to Maki with, "Of-hee course-ho, Mistress Maki-hee. We'll take you to, Mistress Mai-ho."

"Thank you, boys!" She gave them both a great big hug.

"Eriko, is it safe to go hugging demons?" Naoya asked, concerned.

"I've never heard of a Jack Frost or Pyro Jack as demons in the anthologies I've read, brave leader."

"I'd be more worried that she knew their names and stuff, Nao." Masao reminded.

"Hell, the broad isn't the real one anyway, right?" Reiji asked, unperturbed.

"Yes, she is the Maki of this world, not ours, Kido." Kei answered, troubled by her connection with these brothers.

"We still haven't found where the real Maki is yet either." Yukino said, frowning.

Masao scowled. "I can't believe we might've left her behind in the hospital." He was kicking himself for allowing that possibility to exist.

"Like, are we done being lost in these Lost Woods, Brown?" Ayase asked, holding his hand again.

"Not sure, depends on if Maki decides to give in on the bear hug or suffocate the low-jack to this Mai."

Ayase snickered a little, though Brown had not told a joke.

Maki released the two brothers, both climbing on her shoulders, as comfortable as a bird in its nest. "So, where to boys?" She asked, eager to see Mai.

* * *

><p>Not much to say other than I think I've done a terrible job at introducing them, but I have no other way of going about it. They're comic relief. This chapter was filler. I thought the slapstick could be interpreted as humorous. It's probably my favor form of humor especially when relating to cartoonish characters which is what the Jack Bros are somewhat going to be, they're my own insertion for following novel purposes and to demonstrate a plot element that is revealed in the next chapter. BY THE WAY DOUBLE-FEATURE UPLOAD! Either way, I don't know if you enjoyed Chapter Seventeen of Persona: Be Your True Mind, but I hope you may enjoy next time I see in Chapter Eighteen: Mai<p>

Reiji: The fuck he means by double feature! This ain't a movie jackass!

Brown: Worse he had a piss-poor introduction of two supporting cast characters coupled with Maki's lone perspective for the first upload. Come on, man, even I could write better than that.

Masao: Hey, Brown, cut the dude some slack and go back to trying to down-blouse Ayase.

Brown: *Salutes* Will do!

Myself: *Facepalms* What am I gonna do with you guys?

Yukino: YOU COULD GIVE US ALL MORE LINES


	18. Chapter 18: Mai

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything._

DOUBLE-FEATURE UPLOAD! Uploading two chapters at once due to the fact that due to Mothers Day plans this week as well as various school final papers and projects and etc conflicting with my writing schedule I decided to give you a double-header so to speak because to be fair I easily could've melded Chapter 17 and Chapter 18 together into one single one but I like to end on even numbers. For the record, primary perspective is Nao, but I WILL HAVE THE THOUGHTS OF OTHERS MOSTLY KEI AND MASAO. With that aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind, Chapter Eighteen.

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><p><em>Chapter Eighteen: Mai<em>

"_Are you kidding me?_" Is all Naoya thought as they arrived at Mai's home, directed by the Jack Bros. "_I'm beginning to think we're all sharing an acid trip instead of a battle to save the world._"

Naoya was commenting on the structure of the house and how it was built. The entirety was constructed of gingerbread cracker. The spacing of the four walls and rooftop were bonded with frosting, sequined with sprinkles and gumdrops. Peppermints were glued to the shingled bread of a roof with more frosting as paste. Red and black licorice ropes loosely draped the diagonally slant of the home, also secured with frosting. Engraved in the cookie were window shapes and a door small enough for a seven year-old to walk through. The house itself was not a tower and was not a mansion. The height and weight were on-par with a tent.

"Great, _now, I'm hungry for a cookie. I remember Maki used to love making Gingerbread houses as a kid. She'd…put the peppermints and licorice on the roof and gumdrops on everything else…_" Naoya was perplexed. "_Just like this house…_"

"This world is more than ass-backwards, Nao. It's wacky too." Masao stated.

"Indeed, Masao." Kei replied, though he the sentence was directed at Naoya. "I can say it is a putative presumption to understand this gingerbread house is Mai's."

Jack Frost leaped to Kei's shoulder. "You bet, amiho!"

Kei, disconcerted with the demon on his shoulder, swatted him with his hand to "shoo" him away. "Yes, thank you! Off me!"

Pyro Jack encircled him with his floating. "You-hee see, this house is ours."

"_These Jack Bros live with Mai?_" Naoya thought, watching Kei push away the two brothers with his hands. They went back to Maki.

"Yep, you two lived her with Mai and Aki, right?" Maki asked, matter-of-factly.

"Yep-hee, Mistress Maki-ho!"

"Sonomura…how do you…" Kei questioned.

"Not to sure. All I know is I remember the four of em' and I can feel that Mai is here."

"_The puzzle has matured into a whole other echelon of convolution._" Kei thought, trying to piece the jigsaw together to show the clear picture.

"Hey, what are we waiting for? Why aren't we headin' in?" Brown asked.

"Like, yeah, why? The forest is given' me the creeps." Ayase complained.

"_If we enter, we'll meet Mai, gain this compact key and head out hopefully. That depends on if she wants to give it to us. Also she might elaborate on details that are spinning my brain. Probably spinning Kei's too._" Naoya thought, stepping to the door, crouching to grasp the tender, crumbling doorknob. "Here we go…"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"Wh-who's there?" A child spoke, panic-stricken. She was whimpering and sniveling, hiding in her gingerbread corner with a teddy bear in her choking-snug arms. Her brunette hair framed her pale face a red ribbon tied into it. She was wearing a pure white mini-dress.

Naoya was as silent and disarming as his feet allowed on the floured bread flour. He and his friends did not want to scare her out of her wits. She was a child, no less than seven, and they were the big bad boogeymen who invaded her halcyon and innocent forest, breached her cozy and sheltered sugar-sweet fantasy house. They were invading her territory and to any kid that is a nightmare-inducing experience.

"Nao," Masao hissed. "isn't that the ghost who showed up at the Historical Society?"

"Yes, Masao, she warned us of Seiryu when we took the Expel Mirror." Eriko replied.

"Then, Yosuke told us a Mai, a white angel, safeguarded his course to the Black Market to meet with Chisato." Yukino added.

"She has been helping us this whole time." Naoya seriously said.

"Todo, this Mai also bares resemblance to a certain other ghost we've encountered before. The Persona Game, before the lightning strike…the crying girl in white asking for help…this has to be her." Kei explained.

"We can deal with it when we win her over, Kei. Maki, can you and the Jacks talk to her?" Naoya suggested.

Maki affirmatively nodded. "Ready, boys? Let's show her we're friends."

"Hee-ho!" They replied.

"Pyro Jack…Jack Frost…" She lamented. "You two went with them! WAAAAAH!" The shock of the Jack Bros being on the side of the invaders, broke her heart and made her wail in sorrow.

Maki kneeled as she did with the Jack Bros. "Hey, now, sweetie, don't cry." She said genially. "Are you little Mai?"

Mai sniffled. "Yes…" She waved her free hand at Maki and the Jack Bros, it was a half-moon shaped red compact.

"Whoa! She has a half-moon shaped compact! It looks like mine…" Maki retrieved her own green full-moon compact and compared it with Mai's.

"Yep-hee!" Jack Frost cuddled with Mai. "That's Mistress Mai-ho's half of her and Mistress Aki-ho's compact!" Pyro Jack playfully landed on her head. She giggled, not as scared as when they entered.

"That must be the castle key for the gates. But who are these children?" Kei asked.

"Mai, you know Aki, right? She's a friend of yours and the Jack Bros, right?" Maki asked.

"NO!" Mai snapped. "She's not my friend! She's the bad Mai!" She proceeded to wail again, the stress taking her again.

"What?" Maki was surprised at the falseness of the memories. "What does that mean?"

Mai sniffled. "Aki came out of me…" She tapped her heart. "I was lonely and Aki came out of me and then…"

"The bad-hee guy showed up." Pyro Jack finished, a frown played on his cut-out mouth.

"And Mistress Aki-ho left with-ho him." Jack Frost added, upset, matching his brother's grief-filled expression.

"His name…was Kandori and she left with him even though she knows he isn't our real Daddy…"

"_Kandori came here to take Aki, but why and how? I don't understand and where exactly do these Bros come in_?" Naoya was ready to ask when Kei decided to ask his own question.

"Hmn…so Aki must be a separate personality that split off from you. What is that compact?" Kei questioned.

Mai held her compact and her teddy to her chest. "It's my treasure. It grants wishes." She warmly said.

"Hee-ho!" The Jack Brothers exclaimed proudly.

"I used it to make this town…and Jack Frost and Pyro Jack for me and Aki…"

Everyone gasped, Maki backing away. "NO way! That's…"

"_A twist I wasn't expecting…she created this world. With that compact…where the hell is this world anyway?_" Naoya thought.

"Yes, it seems this little girl is the creator of this world." Kei explained. "_This discovery is a major piece. The compact as well. When we entered this forest maze I was unable to even guess as to the solution of this mystery, but now it's sooner to completion than I original believed._"

"Can't you use the compact to catch Aki and Kandori?" Eriko asked, curious.

"Or, like, send us home?" Ayase pleaded.

"No…Aki took half of it with her. I know she's using the other half to do mean things."

"Yeah, she's been creating these demons to block our progress." Masao commented. "_Each of which sure as hell felt real, just like this place, just like those brothers._"

"With the other half with her, my wishes get cancel out. That's why I'm hiding her."

"But we can't get to Kandori without it." Masao said. "Can't we borrow it for a while?"

"No you can't! That's what Kandori wants!" Mai whined the Jacks sticking to her side.

"Mai…" Maki whispered. "You shouldn't hide like this. That's why you were lonely to begin with." She spoke, relating to the young girl's position.

"Why not?" She asked. "Won't I be safe if I hide her?"

Naoya heard those words and reacted. "Stop hiding…" He kneeled to her; making it a one-on-one; him and her. "_Maki used to think the only way to avoid trouble was to hide in the corner of a room until the days end. Then, Aunt Setsuko brought her to our residence and we became friends. She stopped hiding and embraced the day until she got sick, trouble-struck again. At least she wasn't lonely. Mai reminds me of her. This connection is…familiar…I can't place my finger on it, but I'm gonna tell it to her straight, up, down, inside, out, whatever way she wants it._"

"Nao-kun is right, Mai." Maki said, standing abreast to Masao, both with sadden expressions. "Hiding from your problems won't solve them. You have to meet them head on!"

"Why?" She sniffled. "Why are you all trying so hard? I've tried to stop you because you'd all be hurt by Kandori!"

Jack Frost and Pyro Jack moved to Naoya's feet, letting the ebony-haired boy stare directly at the white-wearing girl. "We're trying so hard, Mai, for everyone's sake."

Reiji slammed his foot. "We don't have time for this philosophical bull-crap, punk!"

"Reiji's right, Nao." Masao agreed. "We gotta beat Kandori and get back to our world to save someone." Masao lightly shoved Nao aside and got down on his knees, folding his hands. He was begging. "C'mon please let us borrow that thing! From the looks of it, Maki's…"

"She's…already dead?" Mai asked, her interested-peaked, and her tears dried.

Masao violently shook his head. "Hell no! She's alive for sure! Look, anyway…" Mark was at a loss for words, his plea had not beget her trust.

"What are you all living for? Isn't…isn't it painful?" She suddenly asked, as a child did when they didn't understand.

Naoya's eyes broaden. "_She asked that question? Maki asked me the same question when we were kids._"

Naoya looked to his friends. Kei remained silent. Reiji turned away. Masao and Maki stammered. Eriko was culminating an answer. Yukino was in a thinking stance and Brown and Ayase were conversing amongst themselves to find their answer. "_No one can answer, huh? No surprised. Back then I hadn't had one._"

"What about you, mister?" Mai asked Naoya. "What are you living for?"

He smiled, ready to share. "I live Mai..." He hesitated, formulating the right words to explain his response to a seven year-old. "To find my own reason to live. There's a sweetness to life, like candy, Mai, and a deeper sweetness to living it. Finding your reason to live is a part of living, Mai. In order to find it you have to live your life out to the fullest, you can't hide in a corner. I know you don't want to, because since this all began you've been asking for our help and hinting us to safety and helped Yosuke along safely. You've helped us this far so, let us help you. I promise we'll stop Kandori, we'll make things right." He extended his arm, opening his right palm.

Mai was plain, Naoya's answer require her to think until she chose to give her own response to slice through the deadly silence. "Okay…Nao-kun, right?" She asked, having heard Maki refer to him as such. "Just for you, I'll let you borrow my compact." She handed him the red compact half willingly.

"Thank you, Mai." Nao put it in his pocket, returning to a normal posture with Masao and the others.

"Let's wish right now for it to send us to Kandori, Nao!" Masao yelled.

"You can't. Only I can use it." Mai replied. "And the castle is Aki's home so my wishes won't work on it."

"Ugh! I knew it seemed to good to be true!" Masao groaned.

"Todo, we should head back to the castle now if we want to make it before sundown." Kei informed.

"Let's head out then."

"Wait-ho!" Jack Frost yelped, leaping on Naoya's shoulder. "I wanna come to!"

"HUH-HEE!" Pyro Jack snapped. "Why-hee?"

"Mistress Aki-ho was my amiho!" He countered.

"Maki, Mai what is Jack Frost referring too?" Nao asked.

"When we wished for the Jack Brothers, we each wished for a friend and the compact created Pyro Jack for me and Jack Frost for Aki."

"When Mistress Aki-ho left I wanted to go with her, but I couldn't leave my bro-ho, and Mistress Mai-ho. But if you amihos are going after the bad guy, I wanna go-ho too! To bring back Mistress Aki-ho!" The snowman had a glint in his eyes. He had a friend that had in reality made him and he did not want to let her go. "So, I wanna go too!"

"But-hee I don't want you to!" Pyro Jack cried, afraid for his brother to leave his side, to leave the forest for the first time, afraid that he won't return.

"Pyro Jack…" Mai said softly. "Jack Frost will be back. He's found a meaning to live, right, Nao-kun?"

Naoya laughed. "He has Mai. You can come Jack Frost."

"Then, I want Mistress Maki-ho to make the pact!" He stated.

"The pact!" They all exclaimed.

"The pact, amihos! You guys have Persona-hos, right?"

"How'd you know?" Maki asked.

"I'm a demon-ho! I can feel your alignment, amiho!"

"Then, how do I make the pact?"

Jack Frost waltzed to her feet. "You need a spell card."

"I think I have a spell card." She vaguely remembered the cards Igor gave to them way-back-when.

"Then, you offer to me, the demon-ho, the pact to be one of your Persona-hos and we negotiate."

"I offer you, Jack Frost, to become one of my Personas." She announced.

"Good-ho, Mistress Mai-ho. Now, I accept the pact to be a Persona-ho of Mistress Mai-hos."

"That's it?" A blue card emerged from Maki's sternum, flagged by a velvet light cloud emanating from her chest. "Huh?"

"I have no need to negotiate-ho, Mistress Mai-ho! I'm gonna jump right in! HEE-HO!" Jack Frost leaped into the miniature card, his tiny body consumed into the empty card, designed with a mask on the backside. He filled the blank flat with an image of himself giving a peace sign with two of his four fingers.

"Jack Frost has become your Persona, Sonomura." Kei explained.

"It seems." Yukino added, noticing the card vanishing into her breastbone again with the velvet blue light. "Didn't expect we actually use those cards Igor gave us."

"I didn't expect the process' work like that." Brown admired the simplicity.

"Bye-hee, brother-hee…" Pyro Jack waved goodbye with Mai.

"Bye bye, Nao-kun! Maki-san!"

"Bye Mai!" Maki waved. "Bye Pyro Jack! I'll take care of your bro, for you."

"Thank you, Mistress Maki-hee!"

They exited the gingerbread house, soaking in the final remnants of serenity of the Lost Woods. Soon they'd leave, return to the castle with their key item needed to proceed. What be behind they gates, they would not know until they return. If it was a trap, a diversion, or Kandori himself, it didn't matter. They were ready to confront the odds. Jack Frost accompanying them with a new insight to bring Aki back if he could. His sheer existence and his brother, the baring on the mind of a young girl extremely similar to Maki creating the very world they traversed was more then unnerving, more than impossible, it was a unexpected turn in the wheel of fate churning in both Naoya's and Kei's mind. The Persona-Users, the real leader and the secondary leader to keep everyone else on-track. They both scrambled to fathom this worlds realism and how it came to being based on the clues and evidence laid before them. The injection of Mai who created, added-on, changed, manipulated this world into existence with a mere compact and the spawning of Aki from her being and Kandori's involvement was the remaining unsolved section, smudged and mucked with doubt, misinterpretation, bewilderment, and esoteric shields buttressed with Kandori's machinations and evil intentions. Unlocking the gate with this magical item was a stepping stone to unlocking the factual veracity.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

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><p>I can't say anything. Just can't describe the bad feeling that's hitting me hard now. I hate these chapters at post right now. I haven't proofread and edited in doc manager yet, but I'm still going to hate them. My brain has shutdown for this month. I need to take a break. These two chapters added with the other three is five total chapters I've banged out over the course of I think two and a half months and it's one o'clock in the morning right now, my head aches, I'm tired, and I need a break for a couple weeks. I appreciate the feedback both positive and negative. I appreciate the favorites on everything. I know this isn't a long project, but I need to take a break for my schoolwork. I'm not saying that you'll have to wait until the summer. Just give me until the end of May and I'll hopefully be kicked back into gear. I just need a break. Either way, I can't say anything about this chapter of Persona: Be Your True Mind, and I guess I'll see you next, whenever that may be, in Chapter 19: Mana Castle Part 1: Suzaku.<p> 


	19. Chapter 19: Mana Castle Part 1: Suzaku

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything._

I'll keep the intro brief for this, but I'm stating now this is yet another lone perspective chapter, hopefully, my brain will stop running in circles and kick it into high gear to cross the stupid finish line. I wanna say I apologize for the mediocrity I've hit you with for maybe the past three chapters. Work, school related, and family stress really effects my mindset to the extent of me losing motivation at times especially when everything is winding down to summer. I'll due my best because I don't want these to suck anymore by my standers. This is the only novelization of SMT: Persona on the site and I don't want it to disappoint and I don't want it to be a disgrace. I just want it to work. I know my additions are not related now and honestly the only additions are of the Four Signs, the Jacks Bros, the Alignment Dogma, and the revelations. The Dogma and revelations are built on the game itself in ways that I do not want to go into, the addition of the Jacks Bros and the Four Signs is to demonstrate the power of the compact, and introduce the recurring duo because I plan for them to be in the following novelizations. With that aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind, Chapter Nineteen.

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><p><em>Chapter Nineteen: Mana Castle Part 1: Suzaku<em>

Eriko was hypnotized for a minute at Naoya's leading movements. Her love was at the head of the pack as usual, taking up his position as he normally would._ "Brave leader, you have adapted to that title more so than I initial thought. You are our leader, no second thought about it. You'd put yourselves in harms way to save us, you use us all to the best of our abilities, and you take charge when the time is right. Kei may be bit uppity when it comes to pacing ourselves on this journey, trying to be the deuteragonist and Reiji may act the part of a rebel anti-hero, but you are the hero, especially to me, your love interest."_

Eriko's novelistic thoughts were shook at Maki shifting to Naoya's right. Eriko's eyes narrowed._ "Then, there's the rival to my love. Maki…she is not of our world and Naoya still chooses to protect her as she is. It may be shallow for me to say, but it can surely be just the image of Maki that drives his strides to guard her, just as it is for Masao. He cares for her well-being as much as Masao as well. They known each other for years so it is understandable and I know the love "V" has become a love "Y" almost with my addition to them, way back when in freshman year. Maki loves Naoya, Masao loves Maki, and Naoya…is an uncertainty. Add me into the diagram and I'm merely another line drawn towards Naoya." _Eriko grimaced._ "Does he care for Maki than me? Does my hero, enjoy this…Maki…does he reflect her attraction or…does he show a callousness as he does with me? I…"_

Eriko sneered at Maki, a blatant surge of resentment running through her._ "What's this? Is it jealously or loathing? I never feel this way…I…try to think of everyone not just myself…why am I feeling bitterness? Is this Chaos? Am I drifting into Chaos?"_

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

They entered the castle, Mai's compact in Naoya's hand. "So, this is our keystone, huh?" Naoya asked to no one in particular as he blocked the glare of the glowing doors with his hand.

"Let's try fitting the compact half into the pedestal, Nao-kun." Maki suggested pointing.

"_Well, that's obvious, airhead!" _Eriko covered her mouth as if she had spoken aloud._ "What was that? I would never say such as thing! Relax, Eriko, do what Naoya does…think of everyone else…don't focus on Maki….Maki your untitled rival and unbeknownst love interest to Naoya…Maki who has the greater chance to winning the heart of your hero, your white knight because she's be friends with him for longer…that bitch! No! No! NO! Stop it! Stop it! Act normal Eriko don't let the alignment change. I don't want to lose my mind! I don't want to experience this Chaos that I have seen!"_

Naoya approached the pedestal, readying the compact for insertion in the indentation.

"Wait a moment, Todo…" Kei stated, halting Naoya to a stop.

"Sup' Nanjo?" Masao asked. "We have to get this show on the road if we want to stop Kandori."

Kei was uneasy, he waved himself off. "Never mind, I was…mistaken you could say…carry on, Todo."

"_Kei's questioning the norm is bad, something is going to happen. I hope it's not a trap for whoever puts the compact half in. I don't want Naoya to be hurt then he'll…require healing…which I cannot provide…" _Eriko's bitterness returned as she grasped hard at her right arm, resentment for Maki and depression returning to her mind. Her thoughts were beating her conscious in this game to prevent the Chaos.

"I'm going to set in it then, Kei." Nao hovered the compacted over the indentation.

"Be careful, Nao-kun…" Maki whispered.

Eriko looked away._ "Think of the others…do not lose priority…Naoya…Don't let it be a trap…"_

Naoya nonchalantly inserted the compact half. "Done and done!"

With the setting of the half, the glow of the doors ceased and they swung open, revealing darkness. Then a prominent light flashed and gone was the pedestal and with it the compact.

"What the hell?" Naoya mouthed.

"Wh-what just happened?" Masao questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Second that question slash statement?" Brown exclaimed flailing his arms in the air.

Kei sighed at the stupidity as Maki and Eriko exhaled their deep breaths. "This is what I suspected would happened. There was no avoiding it."

"I'm sure that bastard Kandori's laughing himself hoarse right now." Reiji growled leaning against the wall with his arms folded. "We played his delivering boys and got exactly what he needed."

"Like, what do you mean?" Ayase, asked.

Naoya nodded in understanding to himself and then answered Ayase. "Kandori wanted the compact. Right, Kei? That's what you were thinking."

"Yes, Todo, since Mai wouldn't come out, he needed someone to get it and bring it to him."

"Wait, Nanjo, if you knew this all along…why didn't you tell us?" Masao asked.

"As I stated it's the only way to get to him."

"Why though, Kei?" Maki asked. "If he just needed the compact, why would he let us in?"

Eriko clapped her right palm to her face._ "Ignorance is bliss and arrogance is deadly…his ego must allow him to think that he stands a chance against all nine of us with the compact now. Honestly, how could she not understand." _She had given up with the game, her now-realistic calm, unbiased perspective, nature, and expression were twisted into facades for the Chaos to dwell under until her true features could break back out.

"Well, Sonomura, Kandori is inviting us in. The man has a very high opinion of himself."

"Meaning he has the ego twenty-times the sizes of Brown's." Yukino quipped. "And that's saying something."

"I guess we have no choice but to play along with Kandori." Naoya reluctantly said. "Everyone stay close together, we're moving in, without a doubt Kandori has someone or something waiting for us on the inside of these doors."

Eriko's true mind shined, piercing the Chaos, sweeping aside the Chaos briefly as she recanted her thoughts of jealously for the time prior to having to prepare for battle._ "Naoya, brave leader, my love I believe you will lead us well and I hope that I can keep my repressed jealous repressed instead of uncorked. Let us see what is in store…"_

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Eriko's eyes needed to adjust to the dark room apparently as wide as the castle itself, yet surprisingly vacant. "_Why have this space with nothing to occupy it?_"

"Nao-kun…" Maki shivered. "I have a bad feeling…" She inched next to him and Masao, Eriko glaring.

"I do to, Todo. Walking straight into the darkness is not the best plan." Kei stated.

"_I'm sure he's aware of that, Nanjo…and…Maki…why is it so difficult to want to oversee her as the others…this jealousy has arisen from nowhere._"

"No lanterns or flashlights…" Naoya mumbled. "Ayase!"

"Like, yeah!" She replied unenthusiastically as she latched onto Brown's arm.

"Give us a torch with a Fire Skill."

Ayase scoffed, preparing her whip, apathetic in her words and actions. "Like, here, Persony…" Before she could crack her whip to evoke her flame dancer Hori, a brilliant pillar of fire erupted in front of the nine.

Maki grasped her heart. "We have company, Nao-kun." She said, reminded of the three other instances when a mass of a certain element appeared.

Naoya unsheathed his katana from the back of his waistband. "Okay, everyone get ready, with three of the Four Signs dead this has to be the last one! Eriko, what can we expect from what you remember off-hand?"

The flame dazzled and flickered, soaring up to the ceiling inch by inch. The bonfire expanded, creeping across the ground and illuminating the majority of the dank and empty room. As the orange and red folded apart, burst two elegant vermillion wings, a fire shawl draped over and laid across the now-exposed torso. A nuzzle of pinkish fur to contrast with the vermillion was under the breast. The egg of fire released the furless, sharp talons, similar to giant rooster feet, from their coating, along with a giant fluffy mass of pink protruded from the rear with a mess of vermillion peacock feathers unfolded from the fire in the fashion of a fan. Five streaks of fire lashed about, swaying with the remaining heat and flame resting atop the head and neck of the beast. The jackets around the streams extinguished, unleashing five tails as tall as the beast, nearly to the limits of the room's heights. Each held a distinctive color: azure, turquoise/black, vermillion, silver, and gold.

Eriko's pause at Naoya question was to examine the demon as it awakened to battle. "_Feathers as red as blood, no doubt this is-_"

A cackled as raging and fierce as fire pierced their ears. The flame helm shielding the upper portion of the beast wizened into the vermillion fur neck that was jointed to the wondrous beak of the bird; a pink plume with matching lone feathers ran from the pinnacle of the debonair bird.

"Humans, you all make me laugh!" The female bird chuckled to herself. "With Bai Hu, Gui Xian, and Long gone, I, Zhu Que, am the last remaining of the Four Signs of the Chinese Constellation! I am the strongest of the four and instructed to personally guard Master Kandori's throne room from the likes of you measly humans!"

"Eriko…" Naoya hissed, hoping the demon to not notice.

"In Japanese, we call her Suzaku, she specializes in fire."

"Oh, a clever girl!" Suzaku mocked, laughing. "Did you figure that out all by yourself or did my light show give me away? HAHA!"

Eriko frowned. "_It is all I could gather…she's nothing special._"

"Thanks, Eriko." Naoya seriously thanked. "Well, if you're the last Sign, you're the last guardian Kandori's got."

"Meaning we take you down, birdo," Masao dragged his thumb passed his jugular. "Kandori's ass is ours!"

"It is bizarre! The nine of you mortals accomplishing the feat of defeating my brethren! Thunder, ice, and wind are versatile and deflectable, but fire is the most dangerous to play with it!" Suzaku beak became agape, a fireball igniting in her throat.

Eriko turned to Naoya. She expected him to assign them orders, but remembered the common counter to fire would be water. "_Water equals ice which means Naoya would most likely instruct Maki to attack or counter dependent on how quick he is on the draw._" Her shallow left-field disdain had filled her completely. "_Chaos…am I completely aligned with it yet?_"

Naoya grew commanding, adapting to his confident tone for the battle as he normal did. "Maki! I want you to meet her halfway with the strongest Ice Skill you can!"

"Gotcha, Nao-kun!" Maki was pumped, throwing her hand to the sky. "Now I can test my new Persona! HELP ME!" A velvet blue aura surrounded Maki. "JACK FROST!"

"HEE-HO!" The walking-talking snow man shouted, spinning to give Suzaku a peace-sign. "Alright-hee Mistress Maki-hee, I'm ready!"

She pointed to Suzaku. "Jack Frost! Bufula!"

"HEE-HO!" Jack Frost threw his open-palmed hands forward, firing a mound of ice and snow at Suzaku.

"FLAME BREATH!" Suzaku angled her agape mouth to the ground, shooting a stream of fire equivalent to a flamethrower. It struck the floor, bending in a line. Ascending from the line was the remainder of the raging flame, creating a lasting wall as a shield of defense before Suzaku. The Bufula struck the wall, the ice and snow reduced to a mediocre steamy mist and gentle drizzle, nether of which dazed or doused the flame started.

Eriko grimaced. "_Her ice had no affect against the fire…Naoya would then take this into account and cycle through who would be best suited to extinguish the flame. With ice down, the only other option is…wind._"

Jack Frost sweated, his snowy complexion turning to condensation and water instead of salty sweat. "Mistress Maki-hee…I don't do so well-hee with fire-hee…"

"What do you mean Jack Frost?"

"I'm weak to it, Mistres Maki-hee…so I better take my leave-hee! Bye-hee!" Jack Frost vanished to Maki's surprise.

"He's weak to fire? What is he talking about?"

"It means if I had incinerated the imp, he'd be a puddle, girl!" Suzaku cawed pass the fire wall. "Imagine immobilization and your innards wanting to wretch themselves from your abdomen due to the excruciating pain! That is the danger of being struck with your weakness, girl, as you are soon to witness! MARAGIDYNE!" Suzaku flapped her wings, sending a shower of enormous fireballs cascading down upon the Persona-Users heads.

Naoya did not have time to issue his plea to evade. The fireballs struck without warning or slowing. They struck random locations, briefly exploding on impact. Each were strewn about, licked and brushed by the intense heat and flames. As the fireballs erupted as their creator had arrived, they left traces and patches of the ever-lasting fire to scorch the tiled floor. They were now in a battlefield of fire, the majority scrapped and a lone deeply injured.

Eriko groaned. Her leg was in agonizing pain. A portion of her gray-colored skirt was burnt away, the skin of her calf and shin were blackened as ash. An Agidyne fireball had swept across her leg before colliding abreast to her. She was unlucky enough to take the brunt to her dominant leg for mobility, posture, and stance. She no longer could stand, the pain was far to intense. She was unable to tell if the burns were second or third degree or greater. It didn't matter she was hurt bad and immobilized with a mess of flame laying right next to her to greet her with an uncomfortable heat and orange glare.

"_How could I be so stupid? Damn it! This pain is unbearable! I'm useless! How can I be everyone's guardian angel if I can't dodge something as huge as a boulder?_" Eriko loathed herself, annoyed at her incapableness and uselessness. "_Maki at least tried with ice, at least can heal away these nasty burns…my rival twice as useful as I am, all I could do is tell Nao she uses fire. What use am I?_"

Naoya staggered to his feet, taking note of Eriko's momentary-crippled state. The others were not as bad especially Ayase's whose Persona most likely granted her a great resistance to fire due to Hori's base element usage.

Suzaku cackled. "Ah, the leader stands! I suppose my Maragidyne was not enough to broil all of you entirely, but no worries, boy! I'll grill all of you soon enough! HAHAA!"

Naoya glared, covering his face with his left hand, the cloudy white mist enveloping him. "I'll blow out your grilling fire! HERE IT GOES! SEIMEN KONGO!" Emerging from the white mist was the blue man Persona, beating his chest with his fists.

"A big blue ape-man, how droll! HAHA!"

Naoya pointed a sturdy index finger at the flame well ahead of him. Seimen Kongo arched his arms, readying them at his sides, wind spinning around each knuckle.

"SEIMEN KONGO! BLOW AWAY HER FIRE! MAGARULA!" Seimen Kongo cried a human battle cry, it unleashed a barrage of punches in midair. He fired off a giant wave of greenish compressed wind at the fire wall. The dancing and crackling flames flowed unevenly at the overpowering currents of wind batting against and across them. The Magarula warped the fire, fanning it into halves, split down the center.

Suzaku heard the stir of the other Persona-Users recovery, enjoying the squirms and grunts of the weaken Eriko and amused at Naoya's feeble effort to fan her fire. "I have to admit your Magarula is on par with Long's, but even if he amplified it with his Mind Charge, my flames will last as long as I live!"

"Or as long as you focus! SEIMEN KONGO! PULINPA!" Naoya order and his Persona shrieked, bellowed with all his might, sending numerous visible sound waves passed the tunnel the Magarula made in the fire wall to connect with Suzaku's unsuspecting form.

"AHHH!" Suzaku cawed as the shriek reverberated in her head. The fire wall, shawl, and remnants of the Maragidyne dissipated as she screamed.

"I parted the seas to open the pathway to knock your guard off! Focus is the only way to maintain your fire, right? Same with our Personas! Now, you're wide open!" Naoya looked over his shoulder, eyeing Masao and Brown.

"Maki, go to Eriko quick! Kei get ready to buff! Yukino your to guard Kei! Ayase keep back, you Fire Skills won't be much use here! Mark! Brown! Give those new Personas a whirl!"

"No problem, Nao! Let's get funky!" Masao thrust his axe-wielded hand in the air. "SUSANO-O!"

Brown averse to remove his fingers from Ayase apprehensive grip, hefted his spear upward. "Leave it to me, N.T.! TYR!"

"Whoa! Hold up, punk! What about me?" Reiji complained.

"Reiji, watch there backs!" Naoya exclaimed, giving the scarred teenager a trusting glance.

Reiji's curled lips of anger, met Naoya with an understanding nod. He crossed his arms and observed, waiting to intervene when needed. He scowled, shutting his eyes as the brilliant velvet light emanating from Brown and Masao, their respective evolved Personas appearing: Susano-o golden branched sword-wielding, purple-bodied, and skull-headed and Tyr, cape-wearing, axe-wielding, and mechanical handed.

"_Both of them are going to attack with their evolved Personas? Can they penetrate her skin? If it is anything like her fire, I doubt it._" Eriko fidgeted, Maki kneeled beside her where the fire once occupied.

"Don't worry, Eriko-chan, I'll fix you up good as new!"

"_I DON'T doubt that…_"

"Here's a little twist on a trick ol' Shen Long pulled back in the subway! POWER CHARGE!" A spring of energy surged underneath Susano-o. "Now! SUSANO-O! BRAVE BLADE!"

Brown coolly dragged his finger under his nostrils, parodying Masao's earlier throat-slit and his mannerism. "Birdo is going down and then Kandori's ass is ours!"

"Piss off, Brown! You have to come up with your own comparative or insultive nicknames!" Masao snapped.

"That's doesn't sound like Masao-kun, at all too!" Maki protested, Eriko unhealed.

"Ah screw it! TYR! ZANDYNE!"

Susano-o launched his rapidly spinning sword at Suzaku whose wings were bent inward. Tyr raised his axe up, a giant-sized ball of green Zan energy appearing. Tyr swung his axe downward, casting the Zandyne ball into Suzaku.

The cacophony of painful caws and squawks suddenly stopped. "PANIC AND CONFUSION CAN ONLY LAST SO LONG! AGIDYNE TSUBASAS (A/N)!" Suzaku's bent inward wings fluttered to her sides, ignited in a raging blaze. Her left fire-holstered wing blocked the oncoming red-aura coated branch sword of Susano-o. Her right elegant and fiery matching wing held the Zandyne in place, it not detonating.

"_Her fire truly can protect her…with her recovery from the confusion, she stopped are only chance…unless…THAT'S IT!_" Eriko waved Maki back. "Hold on!" She raised her rapier to the side of her head, a velvet and scarlet mixed mist wrapping around her. "_She's open with her wings occupied!_"

"Nice try, bitch!" Reiji shouted, his own scarlet and velvet mist surrounding himself. "But with your pitiful wings keeping Asshat's and Inaba's attacks from reaching your oh-so-delicate body, you're completely open!" He threw an uppercut. "HELL YEAH! BRES! TWIN SLASH!"

"_Reiji has the same idea as me, but a mere physical strike won't suffice!_" Eriko thought, slashing her rapier. The sword-hand knight Persona was all ready in his stance, rushing at Suzaku's open chest.

Bres planted his two consecutive slashes, digging in and cutting a firm "X" mark in Suzaku's breast, staining her vermillion fur with her legitimate red blood.

"How…dare…you!" She weakly yelled. "You tainted my-"

"Save it!" Eriko interrupted. "COME TO ME, NIKE!" Her goddess of victory, armored and haloed angel arrived on the scene, her wings all ready in preparation to unfold. "ZIONGA!" At Eriko's order in her injured state, Nike unfolded her curled in wings, letting her own full wingspan reach it's limits. Her face-plated head recline backwards, creating and letting loose the powerful electrical jolt from the heavens down on Suzaku's skull.

"AHHHHHHHHH!" Suzaku screamed in agony, the high voltage Zio Skill, running through her entire body. The electricity jostled and cooked her like the bird she was. The currents reached her talons and discharged through the ground, leaving her smoking, the flame guarding her wings gone and patches of her fur fried and charred with the "X" sword wound, bleeding her out. With the removal of her fire, the Brave Blade finished it's course, cutting into and out of her left wing, spraying blood on herself as it rounded back to Susano-o. Tyr's Zandyne detonating the instance the fire faded, blowing away a decent chunk of Suzaku's right wing as the Power Charged Brave Blade had cleaved.

"Nice job, Eriko!" Naoya gave her a thumps-up. She blushed.

"Way to go, Eriko-chan!" Maki cheered. Eriko frowned. "Now, let me heal you!"

"Hold it, little mouse!" Suzaku coughed vermillion droplets. "Smart girl, guessed my weakness…you'll have no more luck in defeating me, humans! I will now show you why I am the strongest of the Four Signs!" The golden-colored tail feather bent itself reaching to Suzaku.

"Bai Hu nullified the resistance his opponent had to his strength and attack all of them at once!" The silver-colored tail feather joined the gold. "Gui Xian buffed himself and put his opponent's on his playing field!" The black/aquamarine-colored tail feather joined the silver. "Long was simple, annihilating and decimating his prey in one technique!" The azure-colored tail feather joined the black/aquamarine. "I implement elements from all of them to kill my enemies!" The last feather, the vermillion-colored, stood at attention with the gold, silver, black/aquamarine, and azure.

"Everyone, brace yourselves!" Naoya ordered. "She gonna hit us harder than last time!"

"MATAKAJA x7!" Suzaku flapped her wing covering herself, with seven layers of white aura, garnering magical amplifications from each. "Buffing myself and razing everything in my path is my strategy! Good bye, children! AGIDYNE!"

Everyone gasped, a behemoth fireball four times the size of Suzaku was conjured and launched into the center of them. With no time to react, the Agidyne bombed the floor, exploding as the Maragidyne fireballs. Eriko covered her face, noticing Suzaku had sent it initially to her, revenge for damaging her with the Zionga. She took the brunt of the explosion as she had before with the Maragidyne. Everyone was struck in the back due to their thin attempts of evasion. Kei, Yukino, Masao, Brown, and Reiji were laying almost lifelessly due to connecting into the wall housing the erected doors that lead to the room. Naoya fell at Suzaku's feet, a majority of the explosion brushing a portion of his lower back and pushing him face-first forward. Maki was flopped, her limbs tangled around herself, she was conscious with Naoya and Eriko, but distress was painted in her pupils, Eriko could tell. Eriko had the worst of them all, the Agidyne scorched from left fingertips to shoulder. She managed to keep the flames from disfiguring her face, but the second set of burns haggard her. The pain had escalated, her focus was no longer beating to the rhythm of self-preservation, she wanted the pain to stop.

Her thoughts were quivering as her lips were. "_I…my…my leg…my arm…I-I…the f-f-feeling…is…racking…the heat won't stop…coming…_"

Suzaku cackled. "Seems the little mouse has had a taste of her weakness! HAHAA!"

Eriko gazed into Maki's eyes that matched her sting. "_She must be paralyzed….l-like..ow…l-like Suzaku was when I used my Zionga…_"

"Well guess my decimating attack didn't pull like my Maragidyne! You humans may have a decent tolerance to survive this long but I'm going to kill you all one by one! I'm tired of this battle! I'll start with you, mouse girl! I'll put you out of your misery!" Suzaku prepared her wings and tails, the aura pulsing.

Eriko's weapon tried to slip from her fingers. "_I can't focus! Too much pain! If I don't cast a Dekunda, she'll die!_"

Naoya moved to a knee, sluggish in his speed. "_No I cannot allow that! Not with Naoya in such a state!_" She slashed her rapier. "NIKE! MATAKANDA!" Nike unfolded her wings, dimming the Matakaja aura around Suzaku.

"A paltry Matakanda reduces my magical boosts minimally, girl!" Suzaku recharged with a single Matakaja. "It was a helpless effort for a helpless girl! You are useless! Out of the nine of you, you we're daft and were wounded by my firepower! Your Zio brought me anger to devastate your party and this mouse," Suzaku cawed at Maki. "Her weakness is her death! Let my fire cremate you and the crackle of your pyre be the funeral dirge! FLAME BREATH!"

Suzaku breathed the amazing flame breath at the defenseless Maki, who was just returning to mobility.

"MAKI!" Naoya cried, the horizontal column or fire zooming over his head at his sisterly friend.

"_NO!_" Eriko slashed her rapier again. "NIKE!" She screamed with the little clean oxygen in her lungs.

Naoya's eyes widened. "ERIKO!" Nike was sent to hover behind the coping Maki, taking the extent of the Matakaja x7 Flame Breath to her back. The near endless flame stream, spewed and overlaid Nike's posterior. Following the physics of Personas, as what is done on the Persona is done on to the User. Eriko was crying hot tears and yelping in defeat as her school uniform was burnt away and her back relentless scorched. "_This is for Naoya's…and Maki's sake…not myself..._"

The Flame Breath ended, Nike vanishing as her User had collapsed. The pain overcame her consciously and her fatigue drained her of whatever stamina remained. "_I…can't…leave…them…now…I refuse to die like this…_" Calling Nike to be a human shield for Maki was her last ditch effort.

"ERIKO-CHAN!" Maki exclaimed concerned, jostling her. "Eriko-chan, please, wake up!"

Naoya's hands shook violently with rage. "MAKI! HEAL HER! EVERYONE ON YOUR FEET!" He stomped his own foot, a scarlet mist materializing, listening attentively to Suzaku's hearty laughter. "I'LL RIP OUT YOUR GODDAMN VOICEBOX!"

Eriko heard Naoya's poisonous, malicious words. "_No…don't drift to the Chaos…brave leader…no…my…love._" Her mind went black as she lost total consciousness, images of Maki and Naoya flashing. Her brain occupied her sleep with a dream of a memory Eriko used to entertain herself with. The memory of the origins of her euphoric affection for Naoya Todo.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Eriko Kirishima was not pleased. Arriving as a transfer student as a first year to St. Hermelin on her first day was not going well. She found her homeroom number, Room 5-A, and she was unsure were exactly it was. She was running late leaving her house and did not have the necessary time to search the entire first floor for her room. So, Eriko was hoping to get the attention of one of the rushing students to quickly point her in the right direction. There was only a sole problem.

"Is that chick with the red hair supposed to be that transfer student?"

"I heard her father's some bigwig executive and took his family abroad were she traveled the world and studied overseas for primary school."

"She's just a snob. Look at her, that silly ascot that she thinks makes her looks fancy. Let's ignore her…homeroom is due in soon."

Eriko's ears perked at each comment she heard. The students around her of all years were making such remarks and comments that they believed she wouldn't hear. Most of which pertained to her father, who was not rich according to any standards. He did travel around the world with her mother and her, where she did study abroad and overseas for primary school, but her father chose to settle for a reason in their hometown. He did want to keep shuffling his family from place to place, not just for work or business, education, or pleasure. It disgusted her that not a single one of them gave her a chance to introduce herself before sauntering off, ignoring her as some had stated, because she dressed formally unlike most of the girls she'd seen.

"_Wonderful…I haven't even been her for twenty minutes and everyone all ready seems contemptible and shallow…_" Eriko sighed, ready to give up and look for herself when…

"Hey, you look a little lost. You want some help finding a room?" It was calm male voice behind her.

She turned to see a boy as tall as her with wild ebony black hair and a lone simple earring in his ear. He seemed easy-going in appearance and a smile was on his face.

"_Does he not know who I am?_ _Might as well take the help before he realizes…_" Eriko nodded yes. "Uh, yes…Room 5-A, please, I'm running a bit late."

His face was surprised. "Really, Room 5-A, that's my homeroom. Follow me, I'm running late too."

Eriko followed him closely down the hall. "_He's running late and chose to help me…how selfless…_"

"By the way, my name's Naoya Todo, my friends call me Nao, but you can call me anything you want. Everyone else already does."

"_Naoya…well he certainly is charming and is the only person who was not inadvertently rude to me. Of course by this point he should recognize that I'm a transfer student…I mean why else would I need help finding my homeroom…_"

"So, what's your name?" He asked, casually, stepping up his speed.

Eriko matched it, taken aback for the moment. "Uh, yes…Eriko Kirishima, thank you Naoya…"

"Eriko, huh? That's a nice name."

Her cheeks reddened. "It is quite common…"

"Well, her we are Room 5-A, if we're lucky Mr. Watanabe hasn't arrived yet. If not let's sneak in the back just in case. He doesn't like it if you're not inside five minutes to the designated time."

As they slid open the door on the back end, Eriko noticed a girl in a red ribbon, with brown hair framing her face standing next to a boy wearing a yellow tuque; they were standing, waiting for Naoya, she presumed.

"_Ah, here it comes…'So I'll see you around Eriko, enjoy your stay at St. Hermelin…It's unfortunate. He was the only one to care and not judge._"

"Yo, Nao! Watanabe's missed his train I heard, your home free, dude!" The yellow-hat wearing student stated, excited.

"Phew! Lucked out…oh…Eriko," Naoya stammered. "These are my friends Masao Inaba and Maki Sonomura. Guys, this is Eriko Kirishima.

"Nice to meet you, Eriko-chan!" Maki bowed politely.

"What's up?" Masao greeted.

"Oh, yes, hello, Masao…Maki." She bowed to each respectively. "_Three people who didn't realize, I do kinda stick out with my ascot. Not that I'm not happy…_"

"OH, I didn't think to ask, but are you new here Eriko?" Naoya asked taking a sit in a desk.

"Why, yes I am…" She turned soured. "_Maybe I was wrong_…"

"So, did you just move here or…?"

"Are you serious, Todo?" A sophisticated voiced boy, wearing glasses and neckerchief with the number one on it asked.

"What's that suppose to mean, Nanjo?" Masao countered.

"Yeah, Kei…" Maki added.

"She's the new transfer student, Eriko Kirishima. With your ill-bred mind enlightened, I leave you, monkey. Good bye Todo, Sonomura, Kirishima…" Kei walked to his seat in the front row.

Masao was riled up. "I swear the next time that bastard calls me a monkey I'm gonna kick his ass."

"He's not worth it, Mark…"

"So, Eriko-chan, you're a transfer student?"

"Yes…" She solemnly said. "_Is she fascinated?_"

"So, where'd you transfer from?" Masao asked, sitting backwards in his chair, genuinely interested. Naoya was too.

She half-smiled, taking her own seat. "It's a long story…not a specific place per say…" She regaled her newfound friends with the countries and seas she had visited due to her father's transferring due to work and personal choices. The three legitimately confessed to not knowing that St. Hermelin was getting a transfer student, let alone one who had traveled the world.

"We try to avoid rumors around her after Hidehiko Uesugi and Yuka Ayase decided to be partners in crime for the first month of school." Naoya stated.

"OH, yeah when those two came together, some weird shit was spread around her." Masao said.

"_They're honest, they asked me questions, not a single one judged. They actually enjoyed the stories…_" Eriko felt compelled to ask a question. "I don't seem like a snob to you three, right?"

"Of course not, Eriko-chan!" Maki insisted. "We just met today! Don't let the things some of these girls say get to you!"

"Yeah, most of the crap they spill is fed and birthed from the shit Brown a.k.a. Hidehiko and the hundreds other rumormongers this school has circulate and telephone." Masao explained.

"Plus, even if I did know you were a transfer student and heard all the rumors spread, you'd looked like you were struggling and I wouldn't have felt right leaving you there."

"_Really…he's…so…sweet…_" She blushed. "Well, what you did really helped, thank you, Nao."

"No problem…if you needed more directions Maki, Mark, or I will help you out."

"Yeah, no worries, and we'll help you avoid the dicks and bitches." Masao said, grinning stupidly.

"And if you want Eriko-chan, you can join our table at lunch?"

"Lunch?" Eriko repeated, her spirits dropping. "_I knew I forgot something._"

"Something wrong?" Naoya asked.

"Yes…I was in a hurry this morning and forgot to grab my lunch money…" She grimaced.

"Don't worry, I've gotcha covered…" Naoya swiftly retrieved his wallet from pocket and pulled out 1500 Yen and handed to Eriko without question or protest. "Here you go."

"Ah, thank you again, I'll pay you back."

"No need, it's fine, really…"

"Are you sure?"

"Uh-huh,"

"_Absolutely selfless, handsome, and he's charming…I think I may be in love…I hope he likes the occult…_" Her face was flushed again.

The morning had begun horribly. The student body in the entrance hall ignoring Eriko and passing her off as the rumors had portrayed her: a pompous, pretentious, snobbish princess. As the days died, so did the excessive, over-exaggerated rumors and Eriko felt more welcome by everyone not just her newly made friends of Masao, Maki, and Naoya. She did not want to wish harm on any of them, she believed in the mystical, demons, and the occult. It fascinated her and she wanted to be able to guard this friendship made, oversee and protect her friends. Meeting Naoya, the first decent and humble person of St. Hermelin kick started her heart into overdrive. He had demonstrated, kindness and selflessness to her which to Eriko were qualities of importance in her mind. She had feelings for this boy because of his nature and actions, it was rooted affection she couldn't overcome.

"DIARAMA!" Maki's voice shattered the dream. "RECARM!"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"Eriko-chan, wake up! Please, I healed you! Your burns are gone!"

"_That dream…it was a memory…_" Eriko felt the pain leave and the clothes return, helping herself up to Maki's worried face. "_I'd forgot Naoya wasn't the solo welcoming and warm person._"

"Eriko-chan! Thank God, you're okay!"

"Eriko!" Naoya exclaimed, his scarlet mist transferring to a white and dissipating.

She stood with Maki, everyone else was prepared to fight to the end, weapons in hand. "_I can see things clearer now…_"

"So, the hapless girl survived! Here this boy was making empty threats because he thought you were dead and the mouse girl was crying in hopes her healing Skills fixed you!" Suzaku cawed, the Matakaja glow still surrounding her.

Eriko picked up her discarded rapier, bringing it to the side of her face. "_I see that my jealousy is misplaced, I cannot forget a friendship even if she holds the heart of Naoya in her hands. They are as brothers and sisters, friends since youth. I cannot insert myself in between unless Nao chooses me or her until that is the case I refuse to let the jealousy rise and conquer._" She glared a Suzaku, everyone silent.

"Eriko…" Naoya whispered.

"Please, allow me to do this, Nao."

"Please, child! You may utilize my weakness, but your are useless! You'll be crippled and I'll enjoyed watching you squirm as I burn away your group here within a blaze!"

"I will protect my friends! I am their guardian angel! **COME!**" The velvet mist enveloped her, soaring as to the ceiling top, the height of Suzaku. "_I'll no longer be biased and jealous towards my friends! I'll think of everyone! Not just myself! I'll be like Nao and in the future, whatever will be will be! I cannot be the judge to my destiny!_" Eriko lashed her Rapier forward. "**PERSONA!**"

A shatter of glass heard in Masao's mind. "_**Thou art I and I am thou! Thou has proven thyself worthy of the power of Judgment! Thou hast have a revelation of the heart and demonstrated awareness of thyself and others and thou and their wellbeings! Thou hast earned her Ultimate Judgment! Nike hast become Michael, the Chief of the Angels!**_"

Nike's polished silver armored broke away from her form, emitting a awesome ethereal light from her uncovering. Emerging from that light and releasing Nike's body as an empty shell was Michael the Archangel, a man seven feet tall, wearing nothing but a loincloth and leather shoulder pads. His skin was slightly bronze, glistening even in the darkness with a holy aura. His wings reached to his sides at ten feet, far passed the tips of his fingers and feet. His eyes were a pure white, no irises or pupils to show color or character. His jaw was firmly set shut, his hair platinum blonde, cut short, and spiked up. He held in his hand a silver spear matching the sheen and texture of Nike's previous armor and was the length of his entire body.

Suzaku gawked, stumbling. "HUH? WHAT'S THAT?"

"**YOUR DEMISE! MICHAEL! DEBILITATE!" **Colorful auras of blue, green, yellow, red, and white shimmered around Suzaku at the jab of her spear, bearing away her Matakajas and her own evasiveness, power, magic, and defenses. "**YOU ARE FINISHED! HEAVEN'S JUDGEMENT!**" Michael stabbed forward in a lunge, lighting from the heavens charging it to release a supreme yellow and blue, electrical sparks and streaks escaped from the spearhead and blunt end. He took aim and launched his spear, the heaven's energy embracing it in flight as it's ran Suzaku through the heart. The electricity flowed fully into her as before, except she began to unleash the yellow and blue sparks and streaks from the spear lodged through her, electricity still discharging from the spearhead on the other side. The voltage shock expanded, capturing Suzaku's beautiful fur until she combusted, her particles sliced clean apart and zapped by the transcended lightning. The spear returned to it's master's welcoming hands as Suzaku's screamed, her wings, talons, torso, neck, tails, and head breaking down to basic materials and flying away as vermillion dust.

Michael disappeared, leaving the battle complete and the Persona-Users victorious. He had brought his heavenly judgment to obliterate Suzaku from the inside out with the righteous thunder that trumps all flame. Eriko saw a card float down in the recesses of her mind, depicting Michael brandishing his spear and extending his wings.

"Eriko-chan…that was so...cool!" Maki was ecstatic.

"Glad to see your Persona has made progress too Eriko." Masao gave her a thumps-up, glancing at a flabbergasted Brown and a pondering Kei.

"Congratulations, Kirishima, it seems you are the fourth of us to have our Persona evolved." Kei complemented.

"Yeah, and each time it happens, it hurts my pride…" Brown sobbed, wanting attention which Ayase chose to give him.

"Like, it's all right, yours is cooler…" She patronized.

Yukino sighed. "I'm not gonna even gonna scold you. It should be obvious."

Reiji spat. "Feh, nothing special! If she wasn't immune to Light and Dark like all the others, I'd have wiped her out in one Mudo."

Eriko breathed relief. "_We won and I feel at ease…Naoya's choice is not a game and is not my call. I won't force him to make a decision and I won't hassle him in trying to pick me. As for Maki, I hope she never has to hear the coldness in my heart, soul, and mind ever again. I want to be her friend whether she is the real thing or not._"

"Okay, everyone, I'm healing us!"

"Then, when Maki is done, we'll take a five minute break to gather ourselves and then Kandori is next! He's up those stairs waiting for us and we're bringing the fight to him!" Naoya explained.

Eriko wanted to go to him, express exactly what she felt. "_Now and is not the right place or moment. When this is done, I'll apologize to the real Maki for the things I've thoughts and I'll show my love to Nao. If he chooses Maki it won't harm our friendship. There'd be not a thing to discuss. We'll always be friends, we'll always think of everyone else including ourselves_. _Masao may watch his back and Naoya may watch his, but I'll watch over everyone!_"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

* * *

><p>AN: Wings it should be.

I seriously don't want to talk about this chapter anymore. I just simply want to state it took a long time because I had to REWRITE THE ENTIRE THING THREE DIFFERENT TIMES! None of which were technical difficult simply me being a stubborn prick and not liking how ANY of the introductions or the battles came out. I busted my ass, shaving off, adding in, mixing up that fight scene because fire is so fucking hard to work with. It was a nightmare. I AM SO SORRY! I cannot believe this took this long! I struggled with this, but the next one will not be the case I PROMISE. That one is two scenes mostly taken from the game with a fight scene from a returning character to replace the crappy boss that you would normal fight. It's also a major plot point. Either way, I hope you enjoyed Chapter Nineteen of Persona: Be Your True Mind and I'll see you next time for Chapter Twenty: Mana Castle Part 2: Takeda Round 2.

Brown: Man what is with these revelations! I thought this was my shtick!

Me: *Facepalms* *Sighs* Brown, just because your Persona evolved doesn't mean it was going to be exclusive to you.

Masao: Yeah, Brown, you can't hog all the character development!

Brown: But you guys get all the awesome ones! I get a armless superhero with an AXE!

Kei: Mine is is my dearly departed butler and friend mechanized…

Masao: Mine is a roided-up tribal dude with a huge sword and hair problems

Eriko: Oh I'm part of this. *Ahem* Mine is the Chief of all Angels

Brown: Well, at least mine is cooler than hers…*Mopes*

Me: Here's a cookie, now shut up about it. Peace out everyone!


	20. Chapter 20: Mana Castle Part 2: Takeda

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything._

Why am I such a perfectionist is a question I often ask myself when writing these. Note when I say perfectionist I'm referring to structure, not necessarily grammar, any errors like that I can fix later-on. Structure is obnoxious for this story, it really is. I have nine characters who I'm trying to give equal amounts of dialog as well and give them a say in important events. This chapter is a very, very defining moment in the game for Kandori as a villain, so I'm going to try my best to do it awesomely. Now going to focus on Naoya as the main POV here. I find him to be the important perspective to center on in this chapter for this segment of the game. AND I know I'm removing what's-his-name or whatever this boss was called for the Mana Castle and replaced it with a previous boss. I felt this would be better. This chapter is only two-to-three scenes all of which are important. I'm hoping now I don't become a stubborn prick during the writing process. With that aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind Chapter Twenty.

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><p><em>Chapter Twenty: Mana Castle Part 2: Takeda Round 2<em>

Naoya sat crossed legged on the floor, sipping Cielo Mist with his comrades. He figured a momentary break to replenish their stomachs with the food and drinks taken from the Historical Society would be best. "_We're gonna be fighting Kandori next and we'll need to be in tip-top shape. His Persona seemed really powerful._"

Maki sighed, plopping herself next to Masao and accepting his offered Dr. Salt. "Well, I'm drained, Nao-kun. I don't now how much spiritual power I've got left in me for healing."

Naoya frowned. "Well…"

"Don't fret, punk." Reiji stated, setting down his Mad Bull. "I still have this bottle of healing meds from the Tadashi Pharmacy back at the Black Market. These things work fine in large doses." Reiji produced the medicine bottle from his pocket, shook it to demonstrate the sound of the dozens of capsules in it, and then returned it to his pants.

"I suppose we're covered…" Naoya lowered his head. "_I have no idea what to aspect though, considering Kandori never once demonstrated what his Persona could do. I didn't even see it when he first brought it out._"

"_**It was ominous and dangerous.**_" Seimen Kongo spoke in his booming voice.

"_Geez, give me a bit of warning before you speak! There's an loud echo in here ya know._"

"_**I'd figure your fretting over the Chaos would have left you distracted with myself and yourself.**_"

"_No, I only lost the Neutral for a couple a minutes. I managed to bring it back from the Chaos once Maki revived Eriko._"

"_**You care for her dearly, I assume. You lost the Neutral Alignment when she was attacked before.**_"

"_I care for everyone…_" Naoya was blushing. "_You know you still haven't answered my question as to why I can hear you._"

Seimen Kongo sighed. "_**It's difficult to explain but easy to learn if you comprehend.**_"

"_No…no, I don't comprehend._" Naoya sighed with his Persona. "_This is hopeless._"

"Hey, Nao, you feeling okay, dude?" Masao asked, snapping Naoya away from his conservation with Seimen Kongo.

"Yeah, Mark, I'm fine. Just thinking…" He finished his can of Cielo Mist, seeing Maki wipe sweat from her brow. "_She must really have no energy. We have put the burden of healing on her in recent battles. The scrapes with the demons aren't bad but the Four Signs have taken a toll of her mostly due to her Persona's Skill Set._"

"Sonomura, I do not mean to exhaust you beyond recognition, but I wish to hold a conversation with Jack Frost?" Kei asked, politely, choosing not to partake in either food or drink.

"Huh? Why Jack Frost, Kei?" She asked, puzzled.

"He is capable of speech and is well-versed in the…a euphemism could be etiquette and biology of demons and etc. I simply desire to ask him a handful of basic questions related to the rudiments of his kind. Do not worry, Todo, I do not indeed to breach your five-to-ten minute time limit on this reprieve."

Maki gulped, raising her hand to the air. "I guess I can summon, just not have him use his Skills. HELP ME!" A faint, velvet mist appeared, flickering like a weak candle. "Jack Frost!"

"HEE-HO!" The snowman spun and gave everyone a peace-sign. "Hi-ho, Mistress Maki-hee! I'm happy the fire's gone-hee."

"And the menacing bird that conjured it." Brown added under his breath.

"Jack Frost," Maki called. "I want you to answer some of Kei's questions, okay?"

"Sure, Mistress Maki-hee!" Jack Frost recognized Kei and immediately leaped on to his shoulders. "So, what do ya want to know-hee?"

"Off me!" Kei swatted the snowman who leaped and landed by Kei's leg. He hissed sharply. "This will be difficult…"

"_What questions is he gonna ask? I mean what could he honestly want to know about the demon's biology._"

"_**The boy is curious, he wants vast knowledge. He follows his Arcana of Hierophant well.**_"

"_What do mean follows his Arcana well?_"

"_**The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed. It is a path of life men and women alike can or cannot walk.**_"

"First question Jack Frost, explain to me the aspect of weakness of demons."

Jack Frost bounced all around, listening to the question. He childishly poked at the bag of ammunition Yukino had set down as she ate he chips and drank her Cyan Tea.

"Jack Frost!" Kei exclaimed.

"Uh, sorry, what again-hee?"

"WEAKNESSES! HOW DO THEY WORK?"

"Well, some demons have one weakness-hee others have many-hee and then some don't have any-hee."

"Then, what exactly occurs whence this weakness is exploited."

"_**Excruciating pain…**_"

"_Really_"

"Well, it's hurts a lot normally, but if it was a Persona-hee that was attacked with the weakness-hee then the User would feel the ouch-hee!"

"He's right." Maki stated. "When Suzaku hit me with fire, I'm guessing Maso and Jack Frost are weak to fire. I couldn't move and my stomach felt upside down like it was being churned. I was totally paralyzed though. I couldn't do a thing."

"Yep-hee! That's how it is!"

"The same case applies to Suzaku, when Nike and Michael attacked her with electricity." Eriko chimed.

"Indeed." Kei cupped his chin and cleft. "Second question: Is Arcana important to demons as it is to Persona-Users."

"Well, demons, gods, and angels-hee, have a saying-hee…" Jack Frost rubbed his round chin mocking Kei's posture. "What was it? Oh, the Arcana is the means by which all is revealed! That was it-hee!"

"_Hold up, you just said that?_"

"_**Yes, it is a common saying amongst demons, angels, and Gods alike as he has stated. To you humans Arcana is, as I said earlier, a path of life you are assigned and can choose to followed it or not. To those outside your scope, such as I, and the Jack Frost as well as the other Personas. We are not only facades of protections that are representations of you, we are representations of those paths of lives: The Major Arcana.**_"

As Seimen Kongo elaborated the details to Naoya, Jack Frost was doing it to Kei albeit a sporadic and cluttered less definite explanation that left Kei in a fuming mood.

"Third question regards the evolutions of our Personas." Kei stated, calming after drinking the can of Cyan Tea Yukino had given him.

"Evolutions-hee?" Jack Frost shook his head. "No clue! Sorry-hee!"

The vein in Kei's neck and forehead was visible as he grinded his teeth. Yukino rubbed his shoulders. "Relax, just relax. He's just a cute little snowman." She comfortably said.

"Demons and angels don't do much evolving-hee. It must only be Personas-hee." "_Can you answer the question then?_"

"_**It's-**_"

"_Let me guess difficult to explain, easy to learn._"

"I have no more questions." Kei waved away the energetic snowman. "Of course, you were incapable of answer the most prudent one." He whispered.

"Okay, Mistress Maki-hee? I'm leaving! Bye-ho!" He waved goodbye to everyone.

"Bye-bye!" She waved back, as he and the blue aura surrounding her vanished.

"Hey, Nanjo, what did you want to ask him about the evolutions for anyway?" Mark casually asked.

"It was a question bettered suit for Philemon, but since we lack the means to visit his domain on a whim, I presumed Jack Frost would be able to enlighten us to the natures of the demons which in-turn would alleviate the mysteries behind certain Persona characteristics. After all, they are gods and demons themselves."

"They're also us." Naoya retorted.

"Brave leader, you are correct, I myself can vouch for that. When Nike revealed herself I knew we were the same." Eriko added.

"All of them, announced they were us, when they first appeared." Brown recalled, throwing in his two cents considering he was the initial User to speak with his Persona. "Thou art I and I am thou…"

"I was hoping earnestly that Jack Frost could have extrapolated the details about communication with them as well as the exact trigger for these evolutions." Kei explained. "I can hear Yamaoka clearly now, but before Aizen Myuou spoke not a word."

"Same here, Nanjo. Ogun didn't say a thing until Susano-o popped out." Masao added.

"I was unable to hear Nike or Michael surprisingly, but I suppose the Chief of the Angels chooses not to converse with a lowly mortal." Eriko said, believing she was right.

"_**Archangels do not speak out of respect and honor. They only converse which each other, Metatron, and YHVH.**_"

"_The voice of god himself is Metatron, right? Whose YHVH?_"

"_**Take a vivid stab, myself. You will be able to answer your own question.**_"

"Well, I could hear Nemain when we fought Seiryu and Tyr hasn't said much. Occasionally, a sentence or two here. Nothing much." Brown said, finishing up the remainder of his drink, chucking the can leisurely away.

Ayase was resting next to him, she had Hori make a minor flame to be used as a light while they stayed, though there eyes were all ready well adjusted. "Not a word…" She replied to the open-discussion.

"Vesta has spoke not a single word." Yukino said, checking the numbers of shells, cartridges and clips were left in the duffel bag.

"Jack Frost only since I got him as a Persona, but Maso is a no on all-accounts. What about you two? Nao-kun? Reiji?"

Reiji scowled, not really caring for the topic of conversation, wanting desperately to get moving to take down Kandori. "Yeah, I hear Bres, but I told him to keep his trap shut, because he annoys the shit out of me when he lectures me."

"Nao?" Masao called.

"I can hear Seimen Kongo. I been able to since the Karma Palace."

"Oh, when he pointed out the right direction? I was wondering how you did that, Nao-kun."

"I could feel the wind and was able to trace the right path based on the hormones originating from Chisato's room."

"_**You were quite good at it too. It's almost disappointing you can't understand why we speak or these evolutions for that matter.**_"

"So, all of us excluding Kido and Todo and briefly Uesugi were unable to hear our initial Personas, but Masao, Uesugi, Kirishima, and I were able to have a-" Kei's statement gained mimics as Eriko, Brown, and Masao spoke the words they had heard.

"Revelation of the heart." Kei ended. "I'm unsure how one is able to have a revelation of the heart, despite experiencing it myself."

"I didn't understand it either, Nanjo. The dude in my head said I was demonstrating these traits and I was worthy of the power of Chariot or whatever. I didn't understand. Even now that I remember the Chariot was my Arcana Igor predicted I don't understand. I just went with it."

"Same here." Brown nodded.

"Mine was clearer." Eriko said, recalling her thoughts after her dream of a memory. "I was following my Arcana, Judgement, with my actions and thoughts."

"That could be a contributing factor but the entire formula is not completely revealed." Kei replied.

"_Following their Arcanas, there paths of life. You said gods, angels, and demons are representations of these paths of life. SO, is it because I followed the role of leadership and the ideals of the Emperor Igor had informed me of that I can hear you_."

"_**Ah, you are worth your salt after all, myself.**_"

"_By following our Arcana we can hear our Personas? How do they evolve?"_

"_**The hearing of our voices is brought upon by following the Arcana: opening your eyes and unplugging your ears. We as we are now are at a state of synchronization. That is why you can hear me. You are following the path of life that I represent. Evolution, you will have to come to light off on your own. I am unable to foretell the details. Only your heart and true mind can.**_"

"_My true mind_?" "Todo?"

"Yes, Kei." He replied, snapping back to reality yet again.

"Are we ready to move?" He asked, standing with Yukino.

"Yes…" He picked up his katana beside him and secured it to the back of his waistband horizontally as usually. He shouldered his MP5, taking the head of the group, the other eight standing behind and abreast, prepared to climb the stairs to the largest floor of the castle. "_This fight, I don't know what to expect, but I'll lead them no matter what. I won't back down._"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Kandori sat on his ruby throne a cardboard cut-out of a castle set-up behind him. Aki was floating next to him. His mirror was placed to the sides. Sconces were mounted and lit on the left and right walls to provide partial illumination. Kandori retained his recumbent position, scabbard and saber in his lap as his enemies rushed into his throne room, standing and waiting at attention. They were prepared for battle.

Kandori snickered.

"_He's relaxing! He's think he has won._" Naoya glared.

"Takahisa Kandori!" Reiji shouted, utter spite and hatred in his words. "You're going nowhere!"

Kandori grinned his conceited grin. "Don't be so coarse with your brother's name. Watch your tongue. You may be the child of Father's mistress but Kandori blood flows in you…unfortunately. But, what's the use? A stray bitch will breed stray dogs."

"I can't believe your that slime bags brother." Masao hissed. "At least you're not an egotistical dick!"

Reiji gritted his teeth, baring his canines. He clenched his fist, shuffling on his feet, the chain around his choker jingling. "My name is Kido! Reiji Kido!" He yelled at Kandori. "This is for my mother, the woman you and father used and threw away like a dirty rag!" He tapped his forehead scar. "This wound will never forget!"

"What you speak is nonsense, Reiji." Kandori was snide. He kept his composure not accepting Reiji's threats as viable. "Take your grievances up with my father's grave."

"Kandori!" Reiji growled, ready to charge.

"_Shit, Reiji's about to explode! Gotta stop him quick!_" Naoya was prepared to yell at him to wake his senses, but Kandori's tongue was quicker.

"What a bothersome cur. Muzzle him, Aki…."

"Yes, Daddy! ERUSAER TSYMMOM!" Aki pointed her finger to the sky and lighting bolt, a basic Zio, struck Reiji without warning.

He felt the numbing shocks course through him and fell to a knee. "That didn't hurt worth a shit, Kandori!" The electricity was still discharging. "I'm made of tougher stuff than you think!"

"Aki…"

She pointed up and a second lightening bolt struck in the blink of the eye. A third, and a fourth struck him, the other eight Persona Users not fast enough to defend him. After the fifth, the lightening stopped, Reiji was on both knees, the discharge sparking off him briefly. "Ngh…Damn it all…" He cursed.

"_She fried him like Eriko did to Suzaku. He's smoking for Christ sake!_" Naoya turned to his child hood friend. "Maki!"

"Nao-kun…" Maki hung her head and spoke somberly. "I can't. Remember."

"_Shit! I forgot she's spent! She needs more time to regain her strength! Wait! Reiji has the pills!_ _He can heal himself!_"

"Mark, help Reiji, get the pills from his pocket!" Naoya order.

Masao had stepped to Reiji's side before Naoya had given the order. He retrieved the medicine bottled and helped Reiji's jittering body to take them.

"Reiji, come on, man, swallow the stupid things." Masao glared with contempt towards Aki and Kandori.

"What's the matter, monkey?" Aki asked playfully as she did her monkey imitation.

"Shut up, you brat! You've messed with us one too many times!"

"Everyone!" Naoya called. "_We'll charge and all-out assault him!_"

"Wait, Nao-kun?" Maki pointed to Aki. "There's Mai's compact!"

Kandori had entered his suit jacket and returned with the half in his hand. "Hm…Youth oft destroy itself…a common failing of headstrong boys." Kandori was referring to the dawdling healing Reiji.

"Aki!" Maki exclaimed. "He's not your Daddy! Don't you know that? Give the compact back, please!"

Aki held her own half of the compact. She blew a raspberry. "You can't hurt Daddy!"

"HELP ME! Jack Frost!" Maki summoned her companion who rested on her shoulder, a bereaved expression replacing his festive face.

"Mistress Aki-hee!" He waved at her, but she blew a raspberry at him.

"_It's doesn't look like Maki or Jack Frost can talk Aki in to giving us the compact back._"

"Mistress Aki-hee, please come back-hee! We miss you-hee!" The snowman was actually crying.

"Go away, Frosty! I don't need you to play with anymore!" She let the compact half fall from her grasp into the open palm of Kandori's other hand. He had final stood.

"_Is he going to attack?_" Naoya touched the hilt of his katana, but retracted his fingers when Kandori placed the two compact halves together, creating the full compact as expected.

"The two compact reunite in my hands. I have to thank you, young man." Kandori spoke to Naoya, the one who had placed Mai's half in the pedestal.

The fact Kandori was thanking Naoya made him sick.

"You snake!" Kei snapped, perturbed at the completion of the object that created this world they occupied. "What's your plan for the compact?" He demanded.

Kandori pointed to the mirror. "Show them, please, Aki."

"Okay, Daddy! ERUSAER TSYMMOM!"

"The mirror!" Naoya stuttered, turning to watch what Aki had done. The mirror was displaying an overview of their town, Mikage, it centered on the S.E.B.E.C. Building.

"Like, what's happening?" Ayase screamed.

"It's my ambition given shape…Now witness its power!"

"_What is he doing? Mikage! What's the hell is happening?_"

The compact in Kandori's hand was matching the light of the mirror. Broadcasted by the incandescent mirror was a scene no one would fathom. The atmosphere was pseudo peaceful. Demons were continuously popping up around the streets and buildings but the S.E.B.E.C. Building and the business district around it's foundation. The buildings were sound in structure and undamaged in surface. With a prominent flash, they were erased. A sphere of cobalt blue in the shape and near the diameter of the sun appeared, consuming the entirety of the S.E.B.E.C Building and the business district surrounding it. At the loss of the orb a indentation in the earth was made. It was a clean square impact crater, the sphere had sliced the buildings into nothingness, there matter gleaned and collected to be rearranged into the next construct. Arising from the square clean crater, emerging passed the matter sliced buildings was a giant slab of concrete laid in the square with four towers, one at each corner made of the same concrete material and reaching up to the air. In the center where the S.E.B.E.C. Building stood and now it's matter recreated was a Mayan temple-like tower that rose to breach the cloud covering of the dimming skyline. The structure mimicked that of a staircase ascending and descending on all sides. It was an obelisk set in place on the grave of the buildings used to create it. The mattered, the pure essence of the constructs were siphoned and morphed into Kandori's new age building practically at the drop of a hat.

"W-what is that? Don't tell me that's OUR Mikage?" Masao asked.

"That's right." Kandori answered. "It's my new castle…I call it Deva Yuga. A worthy name for something that will usher in a new shining era!"

"Ngh…you bastard…" Reiji grunted, standing.

"Kandori, you devil…" Kei scowled.

Maki gasped. "I can't believe you did such a thing…"

"Like, what does Deva Yuga mean? What's he like talking about?"

"It could be titled as he has referred, God Era." Eriko explained.

"What the hell did he even do? How'd he make something that friggin' tall?" Brown exclaimed in panic and awe at the embellishment and renovation of the business district and S.E.B.E.C. Building of their world.

"Boy, this Mirror of Chaos is how! It's just what I've yearned for! It is exquisite is it not…You may recognize the design from the Karma Palace. The Harem Queen's mirror was a prototype of my Mirror of Chaos. This is the real deal. It's no mere compact. This trinket is only the Mirror's power supply! You've seen its majestic power! My mirror and the completed compact, I have acquired the power to make my desires reality! Power over the dimensions without the need for the Deva System!"

"_We're idiots! We delivered a deus ex machina. It's all he fuckin' needed! The damn thing was like a portable Deva System! Now he can bend matter to his whim without a single repercussion or delay! Where did he even get this Mirror of Chaos? It has to be a part of his plan. The mirror interacts with the compact and it acts as the Deva System!_"

"I'm starting to see now, Kandori." Kei spoke before Nao. "The compact and the Deva System were only laying the groundwork. Now you-"

"I will become a god on Earth and a god has only one duty…to wield the rod of judgment upon the wayward human race!"

"I get it…you're planning on annihilating humanity!" Yukino spat.

"Like hell he will!" Masao drew his axe out of his backpack.

Kei brought out his broadsword. "I won't allow it, Kandori!"

"Neither will I!" Naoya yelled, covering his face with his left hand.

"I'm going to kill you, Kandori!" Reiji bellowed, putting up his fists.

Jack Frost jumped to Maki's feet and acted as a shield for her. "HEE-HO! Mistress Aki-hee! I'll bring you back-hee to Pyro Jack and Mistress Mai-hee!"

Brown raised his spear and Ayase readied her whip. Eriko drew forth her rapier and Yukino held razorblades between each finger and her Ithaca sawn-off shotgun.

"You nine…such senseless defiance…Aki!"

"ERUSAER TSYMMOM!" Aki's chant brought down a storm of lightning bolts, barrages of astir succession. The strikes landed consecutively with no fault or failure. The constant weaker Mazios brought each down to there knees as Reiji once was. Eriko was unharmed due Michael's Null Elec effect, but she was pushed downward at the varying weight and build of the lightning on her Persona.

"_Damn it! AW! Damn it all! I can't move! My insides are writhing! What the hell?_"

"_**I…should have mentioned…ARGH!**_" Seimen Kongo shouted in pain, his voice shaking, his confident demeanor gone. "_**I am weak to electricity…AR! I'm apologies…**_"

"_DAMN IT!_"

Aki continued with her languish Mazios until Kandori spoke. "I'll now return to the real world. Do you despise me? If so, do not worry. Aki's attack Skills are incapable of killing you. At most you are disheveled. If you survive, then follow me to the real world…after defeating an old friend…"

"ERUSAER TSYMMOM!" At the flick of Aki's finger, a flash of white light summoned a man dressed in a fine-tailored brown business suit and clean-cut brown hair. It was Takeda, Kandori's right hand man. He played a smug grin and drew his firearm of choice: a fifty caliber action express Desert Eagle. This was his second chance, a chance for the new-and-improved Takeda to prove he deserved to be Takahisa Kandori, god of the Earth's right hand man any longer.

"Objects of one's desire cannot be easily obtained, but the joy of overcoming obstacles to obtain them is the highest bliss. So speaks your new god!" With his preaching preached, a flash of light took Aki away with Takahisa Kandori and his Mirror of Chaos, his godly weapon.

"_He's gone and we're stuck with this bastard!_" Naoya's legs buckled, the effects of the thunder bath and his weakness being exploited reprieved. He had not had time to bask in the pain when Byakko had attacked them all with a Mazio in the S.E.B.E.C. Building due to Maki immediately using Media to heal all of them.

Naoya checked the conditions of his friends. "_Hard to believe a kid did this. We killed a tiger, turtle, dragon, and a phoenix and we get screwed over by Aki!_"

Jack Frost had vanished, Maki most likely was unconscious. She truly was enervated, lost of all her spiritual energy. "_She did too much…_"

Eriko was up and running to Reiji's sprawled body, the bottle of pills spilled slightly on the floor next to Masao. "Brave leader, I have the medicine I'll-"

"Eriko! I want you stay right there and give everyone those pills! I have unfinished business!" Naoya locked eyes with the austere Takeda, his hand firmly attached to the handle of his katana.

"Caution…Todo…" Kei hissed. "Recall his Persona repels physical attacks…"

Naoya nodded, Takeda paying them no attention. He was checking his Desert Eagle, loading his clip with twenty-four .50 caliber bullet. "You brats are dead this time! Master Kandori has granted me additional mental and internal brawn!"

Masao spat to his left, Eriko giving him his pills. "That's funny, you still look dumb and ugly!"

Takeda's eyes narrowed. He pointed his Desert Eagle at Masao. Eriko had scurried to Brown and Ayase, her back turned. Takeda's eye twitched, seeing Naoya's feet on their toes. "My finger is itching, but my bullet is killing the fucker who messed me up last time!"

"_He knew I'd try to swat the bullet and Mark would roll out of the way! He read my stance! Maybe he is mentally stronger._"

The Desert Eagle barrel snapped it's sights on Naoya. "I'll kill you!" He pulled the trigger seven times, letting the seven high power rounds fly.

Naoya's vision began to delay. He saw the actions he would perform in slow-motion compared to Takeda who saw it at the fast-paced speed. Naoya raised his left hand back to his face, his cloudy white aura of the Neutral Alignment encasing him. "PERSONA!" He called, drawing forth his katana, backhanded and slashing it in front of him. Seimen Kongo emerged at the exact moment Naoya unsheathed his katana. The god unleashed a streak of wind with a righteous left and right cross at the exact moment of Naoya's backhanded slash. The bullets met this wall and the normality returned to Naoya's vision. The contused and diced .50 caliber bullets innocently fell to the ground. Their momentum was stopped and their dangerous penetration and trajectory defeated.

"How did you…?" Takeda gnashed his teeth, reviewing the clip again.

"_Yeah, how did I?_"

"**Remember when I said with your eyes open and your ears unplugged we are in a state of synchronization. You can fully feel me and I can fully feel you. We are one in mind and body."**

The words were spoken from the true lips of the deity. He was hovering behind Naoya, the cloudy white covering the both of them. His arms were crossed.

"_Why now? And what did we do?_"

"**Synchronizing as this is only viable whence you have embraced the Arcana completely. As time progressed and you fell into the path of life, the synchronization developed. It was almost to this extent in the maze. You could utilize my ability to feel the wind and air. Now with me present here as I am thou and thou art I, you can control the wind through me."**

"_The wind? So, when I went to evoke you, YOUR instincts and MINE combo-ed the bullets with wind and the sword! Shit, I wish I could have done this earlier. I feel a little special compared to everyone else._"

"**Remember, myself, wind can be as sharp as the finest steel or as dense as the thickest rock.**"

"_So, we crushed the bullets with the wind and then sliced them._"

"**Yes. Your opponent is back.**"

"Listen, brat! I don't need this gun! I never needed it!" Takeda tossed the Desert Eagle aside, emulating his previous actions back in Kandori's office. A scarlet mist and aura consumed the tall man. "BEHOLD THE POWER! TITAN!" Titan was unchanged. He was naked, pale, and wearing his ornate lilac snake tattoos. His hair was still brunette and styled wildly. Titan remained at Takeda's head.

"_I know what he plans to do. He's not as smart after all. You know what I want to do, yes._"

"_**You can hear my language in your ears, I take it. I will warn you, it is adroit at both death or injury. You choose how you want the wind to be and I will spin it to cleave or pound!**_" Seimen Kongo's words returned to Naoya's mind, not wanting to announce his capabilities to the enemy.

"Will do!" Naoya sheathed his katana and cast aside his MP5. "Here it goes!" Naoya swiped his arm through the air, lifting it at a diagonal angel adjacent to his head. He kept his arm curved and raised, Seimen Kongo mimicking him. When the Persona raised his clenched fist to the location with his master's, a squall of verdant wind surrounded Naoya with the Neutral mist. It towered beyond their combined heights to the ceiling, rotating and swirling in a colossus spiral close to the rampant currents of a cyclone.

"TITAN! EARTHLY VORTEX!" Titan punched the floor, sending spurts of giant boulders underneath Naoya's feet.

Naoya never hesitated or broke his pose, the howling wind whistled with each boulder being buffeted and reduced to pebbles by the pressure of the dreadful spiral of wind. The currents dragged the pebbles up to the skies at Takeda's screeches. The green of the wind was densening, the speed increasing further. Naoya planted the flats of his feet in the eye of his cyclone, his and Seimen Kongo's arm still raised, gyrating the zephyr to destructive and critical levels.

"TITAN! AVALANCHE!" Titan punched the ceiling, the pebbles ascended by the wind crafting together into a shower of deadly stalactites. "You're dead!"

The wind ripped and shredded the falling cones. The encumbrance reduced the boulders turned pebbles turned stalactites to a spray of sand and dust, whafted away. "_That was new…are we ready to end this?_"

"_**The wind is at it's maximum velocity! It we had not been attacked with my weakness previously, I would have been able to manipulate the wind in a shorter period.**_" "_All right!_" Naoya's arm tensed and strained, his demeanor softening. He sensed the common breathing return to his friends. Eriko had completed healing them all with the medicine. Takeda's breathing was rugged and husky, he was huffing, pissed off.

"TITAN!"

"**HERE IT GOES!**" Naoya and his Persona exclaimed both at once, thrusting there arm down through the wind. "**TEMPEST!**" At Naoya's signal, the massive eddy of green wind let loose from him. It was boundless and ravaging, dashing across the room to consume Takeda in it's fury. He was taken aback by the tremendous attack laid upon him. He growled in frustration, soon it deafening as the tempest's own roar beat his. He was trapped within the circling wind, all the while it was expanding and ensnaring the ruby throne and cardboard castle cut-out around itself. The squall wailed and spun, decimating the ruby into chunks and the cardboard into shreds. As far as the wind expanded, the deeper it sunk. All the pressure and structure of the tempest and the objects around it dug into Takeda as he traveled his own round-about with them. With the expansion the height had drifted but with the regain of the pressure, the height magnified, doubling to twice it's original size. The gigantic cyclone crashed into the peak of the room, it drilled and punctured into the outside, ripping tiles and brick and other material from the construction. The entirety of the throne room's ceiling, inside and out was stripped away and sent askew as Takeda's pounded body traveled up the pipe of wind, battered with the debris and the iron-clad pressure of the technique. The tempest let out it's concluding clap and roar, the precious ruby, discarded cardboard, and the dilapidated roofing viciously slung to the corners of the decaying ground under the polluted sky. Takeda was motionless, voiceless, the tempest died and dropped him down from the dirtied skies to the edge of the crumbled castle top. He hung lazily, defeated, unconscious, and covered in caustic contusions brought on by the air pressure and density of the unstoppable Tempest.

Seimen Kongo faded, Naoya collapsing to his knees, panting. "_Good job…partner…_" He congratulated.

"_**It was both of us, myself. Now I need to rest. We're both gaunt from the excessive exploitation of our weakness**__._"

"_Yeah, good idea…_" Nao fell forward, exhausted.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Naoya awoke after the sensation of five or so medical capsule were massaged down his throat, most likely by Eriko. He cracked his neck, rejuvenated from being electrocuted. His eyesight adjusted to the fire-lit room, everyone was standing around him, astonished or concerned.

Kei broke the silence. "That was quite impressive, Todo. How is it you came about doing it?"

"Long story, let me give you the clip notes." Naoya groaned, Masao helping to his feet. "If we follow our Arcana we can synchronize with our Personas. What happen was basically like a new found mastery of my Persona because of my following of the Emperor Arcana. We were one I suppose you can say."

"Intriguing, perhaps that relates to the formula of hearing and speaking to Personas as well as the evolution." Kei rubbed his chin in thought.

"How are you, Nao-kun?" Maki asked.

"Yes, brave leader, did five pills do the trick." Eriko examined the half-emptied bottle which Reiji snatched back.

"I hold these, Kirishima."

"I'm better, guess my weakness is lightning." Naoya flicked his earring.

"Either way, this whole mess was just a waste of time." Masao stated, getting set on the serious track. "If we don't hurry and catch that scumbag, things in our world are gonna get out of hand!"

"But how do we get back?" Naoya asked. "Aki accidentally brought us her the first time and the portal Chisato and Yosuke fell through and this Maki used to go to our world is closed, right."

Reiji snapped. "There must be a way, punk! That's the kind of bastard Kandori is. You heard him, he wants us to chase him and challenge him. He's still toying with us!" Reiji whitened his knuckles. "I'm not giving up until my hands are around that son of a bitch's neck!"

"Kido is correct, Todo. There must be some way…" Kei said, pushing up his glasses.

"But where, Kei? No portal, no go right?" Yukino shrugged.

"Maybe there…" Maki's voice cracked. "The place were rumors of people being spirited away."

"Spirited away?" Brown exclaimed. "Un-uh! NO way! I ain't messin with ghosts! NOPE! Not part of that at all!"

"Oh, shut up, Brown!" Masao flipped him off and turned to Maki.

"Where is this place Maki?" Naoya asked, gathering his sub-machine gun.

"I assume she's referring to the vacant and alleged haunted mansions back in our world, brave leader." Eriko informed.

"Like, that place has nothing." Ayase spoke, callously. "It's a totally rickety dump where everyone goes to smoke cigarettes after school."

"For once she's right." Masao commented. "I used to sneak in there when I was a kid. Ma would get so mad…"

"Ayase may indeed be right…for our world's reality, but…this world is different in that respect." Kei explained.

"The haunted mansion is where the S.E.B.E.C. Building is…sorry, I mean was in your world."

Masao sunk. "Back through the subway again. Jesus, this guy likes making us run after our own tails." He grunted in displeasure. He looked to Maki. "You know, Maki, Kandori's only screwing with our world, now. It's our problem exclusively. You can go back home. I mean, you're worn out aren't you?"

Mark had a point. Naoya agreed. "Kandori's our problem, Maki. You can stay here and we'll handle him. If Jack Frost insist on going, I'll take him with me." He offered.

Maki pouted and puffed her cheeks. "NO!" She exclaimed suddenly. "I'm not going to be the only one who has to sit back and watch! I like your town! I like all of you! I like…me…" Her voice was a crescendo, ceasing with a hiss. "And I can't just stay quiet and watch the things I like be destroyed. It's just not something I would do."

"_This Maki…is Maki Sonomura…I was skeptical that this world's Maki was different but they are the same. They want to help everyone, they care for everyone, they want to protect everyone. She is Maki Sonomura, no doubt in my mind any longer._" Maki's heartfelt statement had caused Naoya's mind to stir and reach a final epiphany about this secondary Mikage world's Maki. His sisterly friend who he's know since childhood very well could be standing in front of him right now. She holds her appearance, her heart, and her mind. Maki Sonomura as Naoya Todo had thought was standing there, not the actual Maki, but she passed.

"The things we like, huh?" The realization hit Mark as well. Everyone else kept quiet. "Looks like no one has any more complaints. Let's go to the haunted mansion, ASAP, Nao!"

Naoya nodded. "Let's go!" Naoya took the lead, the ache semi-prevalent in his legs and the numbness under his arms. He worked through it. "_We have to rationalize the pills. I feel better physically for the most part. I don't need to be a hundred percent. I'll regain my energy as we head to the haunted mansion. What we'll find there? Who the hell knows?_"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

* * *

><p>A lot to swallow and comprehend. I did my best. Basically Kandori with the compact and the Mirror of Chaos Kandori has a portable and all expansive Deva System which he can utilize to manipulate matter into whatever he wants: Deva Yuga. So he's basically succeeded in becoming a god and in chapter Twenty Four we'll see how that faired for him. Yes I removed Saurva in favor of the now short lived Takeda. I thought it might fit better due to Naoya now in Neutral Alignment and beating him with Tempest. The next chapter I'm not going to lie is probably going to be the last short chapter for awhile. Chapter 22, 23, and 24 are going to be LONG. They are the entirety of Deva Yuga which technically is not the penultimate dungeon of the game but is the last dungeon the characters will explore, the other three after that are gonna be skimmed down to the grits. Either way, I hope you enjoyed Chapter Twenty of Persona: Be Your True Mind and I'll see you next time for Chapter Twenty One: The Haunted Mansion.<p>

Masao, Kei, Brown, Naoya: DO! DO! DO! DO! When the crypt doors creak and the tombstones quake, spooks come out for a swinging wake. Happy haunts materialize and began to vocalize. Grim grinning ghost come out to socialize!

Me: *Claps* Good, we got the reference across, you can come out from behind the artificial busts.

Masao: Dude, I don't even know what we're referencing.

Kei: I can't believe I accepted to doing such a foolish thing.

Brown: Hey it was kinda fun as long as no real ghost show up.

Naoya: Something tells me this was foreshadowing.

Me: Not really, just for a laugh. Either way, don't sue us!


	21. Chapter 21: The Haunted Mansion

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything._

Time for the Haunted Mansion, both a story important yet padding dungeon. I really find the fact that it's a dungeon pointless which is why I shaved it down to just the basics. Take note there is really only ONE cutscene in this dungeon and it is at the very end. All other information is gained from the NPC scientists in the other rooms. So I going to group the important things they pass along with the addition of some exposition, explanation and foreshadowing to make the later portions of the game make sense to those who have never played the game. Trust me, it's best this way. Also I'm gonna stroke my own ego (Channeling my inner Brown and Kei here) and give myself some props for actually creating my own important cutscene that is 100% pertinent to the game entirely. WOOT! I'm probably going to focus on Masao and Kei this chapter, perhaps Maki in the final scene. You'll see why. With that aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind Chapter Twenty One.

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><p><em>Chapter Twenty One: The Haunted Mansion<em>

Masao stretched his calves, taking a moment's reprieve from the constant march to the mansion. "_You know, it's really depressing that the amount of times we gone back and forth through the subway can almost be counted on one whole hand._" He sighed, noticing the oncoming structure. "_Place still looks shoddy and vacant, though nowhere near as worse for ware as the mansion in our world. At least this one still has walls._"

Masao redistributed the weight on his back, frowning and thinking of the events that had transpired minutes ago. "_Hard to believe this all started with a stupid bet…one that me and Nao are gonna have to pay when this shit is done._" He sighed again. "_But, I can't shake the feeling that if we do manage to find something in this mansion that can send us back to S.E.B.E.C. and our world, that Kandori is going to be too powerful to take down now._"

"_**Trust in your mind and body, True Warrior Masao Inaba.**_" Susano-o's honorable voice echoed.

"_Yeah, yeah, keep on saying that, dude. Ain't gonna change the fact Kandori performed his own act of friggin' God!_"

"_**Oh, no, True Warrior, Kandori holds no godly aura or power by himself. Takahisa Kandori's compact and mirror are his mediums as the Harem Queen's mirror was to her. They are enchanted. If their aura is banished then they lose their power which are godly by themselves.**_"

"_So, if I hit the mirror with the Brave Blade, I can destroy it like we did before._"

"_**Unfortunately no, True Warrior Masao Inaba. You and your friends may have been unaware of the oppressive aura the…Mirror of Chaos, he called it, produced, but us Persona surely sensed and felt it throughout the room. The Harem Queen's mirror was a decrepit comparison. The Mirror of Chaos was not the work of man.**_ _**The Queen's was.**_"

"_Huh? Wait, you lost me. So, let's operate under your idea. Most likely Aki created Kandori's mirror, right? Is that what you are saying?_"

"_**No, the youth in black's aura was not as potent. Her aura matched the Queen's. She created the prototype as Kandori called it. I would suppose it was an effigy of the Mirror of Chaos.**_"

"_You lost me again! If Aki created Chisato's mirror, then who created Kandori's Mirror of Chaos!_"

The Persona chuckled. "_**I told you, True Warrior, the Mirror of Chaos was not the work of man but the work of a deity. He enchanted the mirror to be able to be used to that capability. That is why I said Kandori by himself holds no powers of a deity but with the compact and Mirror of Chaos he does.**_"

Masao groaned. "_Dude, you are giving me a headache. All I got out of you was Kandori's Mirror was created by someone else other then Aki and the someone is most likely a god._"

Susano-o chuckled heartily, enjoying the conversation. "_**Well, yes I suppose you have summarized it, True Warrior!**_" His laugh was lighthearted and full of life as Masao's was when he laughed.

"_WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE!_"

Susano-o continued his laughter. "_**I'm sure you don't like everything to come to you easily just as I, myself!**_"

Masao accepted defeat comically. "_You do have that right. It is better to run the gauntlet to reach your goal, though I am guilty of cutting corners hear and there. Pisses me off when I do, though I wouldn't have minded not having to have to go through that subway four times or encountering any of these random demon appearances and you know those Four Signs blocking every nook and cranny in our pathway to Maki and fixing our Mikage._"

Susano-o regained his composure, sharing the brief seconds of Masao's joy and shifting into the seriousness. "_**True Warrior, life's adversities come in many forms which we all must traverse.**_"

"_I know. Ma and Pops bitch all the time about how the laundry mat business is piercing the roof or sinking in perpetual quicksand. 'There's no easy way out with a business Masao, do well to learn.' He always says. I mean it's not a total load of crap, he does have a point and I agree, but I'd never wasted my life with the boring challenges of running a chain of laundry mats, I'd rather go on a awesome journey. Shit, maybe to America. They have this place they call the Big Apple, I wouldn't mind going there, living out of an apartment as a lone artist._ _Though a journey to New York is nowhere as awesome as fighting an eight-headed snack._"

"_**Uh, yes,**_" The god was stammering. "_**You are right**_."

"_I may need to do a little oversea studying before I head to New York. When the Fates predicted my feature they saw the open seas._" Masao carried on in his own thoughts.

"Masao, abdicate your clambering and daydreaming, your falling behind and we're ten feet from our destination!" Kei scolded to Naoya's chagrin and protest.

"Huh?" Masao was snapped from his inner conversation and thoughts, realizing he had lagged his footsteps and was several feet behind the remaining eight. "Shoot!"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

The shape of the mansion would not lead anyone to believe it was condemned. The three story, two winged building held itself up, the oak used to craft it undamaged or burned. The windows produced a minor shine, but as Kei pointed out their were 2 by 4s nailed on the insides of the windows in front of the indoor curtains to block people from looking in. The walls were up and steady, not seeming the least bit shaky. The shingles on the roof were perfectly aligned and set not uneven or slanted in the slightest. As gothic glamorous the outside of the haunted mansion seemed in the twilight sunset on the horizon the inside was the complete opposite. Dust and cobwebs littered the wooden beams stabilizing what was left of the insulated walls. The bland gray wall paper was torn and peeled, caked with soot and dirt. The carpet was a basic fabric that covered the creaky floorboards. The foyer had an entrance hallway, the dilapidated and warped boards used to build the steps nearly crumbled under their combined weight. Both floors carried the garish carpet and 2 by 4 covered windows. The inside lacked distinguishable noises other than a hollow whistle and the squeaking the loose footings beneath their feet. The ceiling lanterns meant to provide a light source for the many halls and rooms of the mansion were dim, swallowing the nine in shadows yet again.

"Seriously how many dark and depressing places have we been to on this damn journey?" Masao complained.

"Like, at least, we have lights and I totally don't have to do anything." Ayase cheered for herself, depriving Brown's hand of blood flow at her iron-clad grip.

"Ayase…" Brown stammered, sweating. "My hands turning blue…" He stated.

"Suck it up, Brown!" Yukino called. "You are a man aren't you?"

Brown's faulting face regained composure and he puffed up his chest despite the supreme lack of feeling in his fingertips.

Kei let out a hm.

"This place is spooky. I've never been here in our Mikage." Eriko said, sticking close to Naoya.

"Me either, Eriko. I always thought the whole thing would come down on us. This version seems really sturdy albeit eerie." Naoya added.

"What are you afraid of Nao?" Masao asked seriously. "You got that Tempest thing."

Naoya gave his best friend an half-smile, his other ear perking at Kei's second hm. "It's not as simple to use as I did against Takeda."

Masao raised his eyebrow, ignoring the depression of a board he stepped on. "Dude, you steamed rolled, dumb and ugly. What do ya mean not simple?"

Naoya put his hand to his chin. "Not sure actually. Seimen Kongo just said it was complicated to do what we did, but as long as I keep following my Arcana we'll be able to do it again."

"Following your Arcana, huh?" Masao repeated. "_Susano-o, is it that easy?_"

"_**Not necessarily, True Warrior. Following your Arcana may also warrant exactly what Alignment you must be in as well. It is not as easily done as Seimen Kongo and your friend have demonstrated. Synchronization through the path of life know as the Arcana is complex and requires effort. It is not something you can master in a matter of minutes. It takes at least two days, though your friend has shown progress in a day.**_"

"_How's that?_"

"_**External and internal stimuli are mostly what cause an Alignment change. He is no longer bathing in Chaos or floating in Law, he's seated in Neutral and struggling to keep himself in balance whilst following his Arcana of the Emperor. It is a constant mental and physical assault, True Warrior Masao Inaba.**_"

Masao took in the information, staring at Naoya quieting conversing with Eriko and Maki as he led up the back, the slight grin still on his lips. "_Nao, you're my hero, man. You'd twist your soul inside out to keep your friends safe, to keep yourself who you are. You are my hero, man._"

"Todo!" Kei shouted.

Everyone stopped and Naoya turned to Kei. "What is it, Kei?"

"The lanterns and the condition of the mansion contradict our haunted mansion in the original Mikage." Kei stated, folding his arms, broadsword and rifle on his back.

"Tell us something we don't know, Nanjo." Masao spat, not in spite but to feel like he had one-upped Kei.

"Yes, Masao, of course, we all knew the condition of the mansion is a contradiction, but I also noted the lanterns." Kei pointed to one of the spaced apart glass containers alight above their heads. "The original Mikage's haunted mansion housed no inhabitance. It was condemned, left to rot and collapse on it's own schedule. This version of the haunted mansion is standing firmly without a single sign of destruction or decay on the outside. The inside is depraved of proper care, but not to the extent of decomposition and corrosion of the materials used to build it. Therefore this Mikage's version of the haunted mansion is deemed as capable of living. Now turn to the lanterns, I've noticed not a light switch or house-hold appliance on the first floor or it's rooms and the entirety of this floor we have ventured through. By this evidence and the construction of these lanterns to light the way, I can discern there is no wiring or power running through the hallways of this mansion at the very least." Kei stopped to speak, letting the others to reply. In the back of his mind he noted, that two days prior he never would have given anyone else, especially Masao Inaba, the credit to solve or state the solution of a problem.

Maki was the first to speak. "So, if there's no electricity, that means the lanterns were lit by someone else. Right, Kei?"

Everyone else nodded as Kei rubbed his chin. "Correct, Sonomura, others have lighten the lanterns. With this information we can now-"

"Out with it, Four-Eyes!" Reiji snapped, stomping his foot. "You talk to much, get to the goddamn point!"

"Silence, Kido!" Kei glared, fixing his glasses to the bridge of his nose. "As I was saying with this information we can now-"

"Figure out that there are probably people residing in the mansion, right, Nanjo?" Masao interrupted, now having completely one-upped Kei.

Kei gnashed his teeth, fuming. "Yes, Masao, we can determining that there are indeed inhabitance of this mansion and considering Kandori has most likely left this as our final chance to end his scheme, they have to be-"

"Able to send us back to our world, right, Nanjo?" Brown blurted out, his handing escaping the pincer claw called Yuka Ayase's hand.

Kei's throat projected a guttural sound. Now he remember why he never gave others the opportunity to solve a problem. "Steal the credit from me will you…" He hissed.

"Now, now, Kei, it's all right." Yukino patted his back and rubbed his shoulder.

"Heh," Masao laughed. "_Bought time Nanjo got a taste of his own medicine. Always acting as the genius in class, getting all the answers correct._"

Naoya opened his mouth to speak when…

WHOOSH!

The fire in their only illumination was snuffed out. Each visible sparking on the hanging objects were wiped away at the same instance, the darkness consuming them each. The abrupt course of lack of light caused a common sense of panic and shouts. None of them good see the others, the change from lighten to darken caught their eyes off guard and they'd need to wait to see themselves.

Naoya closed his ears to the nervous jaunting of shoe soles and gasps and growls from his other comrades. "Is everyone okay?" He asked, commandingly.

"Oh, brave leader, I didn't know you where so romantic; swooning me in your arms." Eriko replied.

"WHA?"

"Maki!" Masao yelled forgetting her standing position and where he was facing. He was worried, thinking an enemy was attacking.

In the shadows her tiny voice replied. "Masao-kun! You can stop hugging me!"

"YUKINO!" Kei shouted.

"WHOEVER'S HAND IS ON MY ASS, YOUR BALLS ARE MINE!" Yukino harshly stated, in the loudest and gruffest tone she could muster.

"Brown, that like better not be your hand on my chest!" Ayase exclaimed, disconcertion and rage dripping in her words.

"Wait, hold up! If Ayase's over there…WHOSE HAND AM I HOLDING?" Brown asked, bellowing.

"That be mine, Asshat! NOW PISS OFF BEFORE I SHOVE YOUR HAND DOWN YOUR THROAT!" Reiji stated.

Brown came to the realization and: "AWWWWWWWWWWWW!" He screamed, his lungs combined with his tongue and the air released a shriek on-par with a five-year old girl's. It was a screech cringe inducing and spine-shivering enough to shatter glass.

The hollow corridor, void of noise was greeted with a heavy whoosh, the flames ascended returning to their brilliant shine. The nine stayed where they were. They each noted they had not moved an inch when the lights went out.

"Who was swooning my shoulder?" Eriko asked, brushing her forearms.

"And who was hugging me, then?" Maki questioned, holding her bow close to her.

"And who was the bastard who groped my ass?" Yukino snarled, glaring at Brown suspiciously.

"Yeah, Brown, who, like touched my boobs?" Ayase eyed a frantic Hidehiko who was cowering behind Reiji. She uncoiled her whip and lashed it.

"I-I-I don't know! I swear I didn't do it! Ask, R.K.! I was holding his hand! I'm innocence I tell ya!" Brown pleaded up and down after Reiji shoved him out from behind him.

"Unfortunately, Asshat is tellin' the truth. My love tap to the his rib proves it." Reiji scowled, leaning on the wall.

"Heh…"

"What's so funny Masao?" Yukino demanded.

Masao cocked his head. "I didn't laugh, Yukino." He defended.

"Hee…"

"Brown, now why are YOU laughing?" Yukino angled back to Hidehiko on his knees bowing to Ayase and Yukino.

"It wasn't me! I swear!" Brown groveled remembering instances of Yukino's wrath.

"Hm…"

"Now, Kei, too! What's is up with you guys?" Yukino returned her gaze to the heir to the Nanjo Group, udder awe played on his face and a distinct feel of surprise in his retreating step.

"Yukino, I promise, I spoke not a letter." Kei was sure, keeping his sentence robust.

"Kei, Masao-kun, and Hidehiko are telling the truth, Yukino-chan." Maki added.

Eriko agreed, nodding. "There mouths haven't moved an inch."

Yukino narrowed her eyes, shooting to Brown again.

Naoya cleared his throat to gain everyone's attention. "Okay, can we please all relax and try to understand what happened?"

"_I'd like to know too. Who the hell can assault women in a complete blackout and manage to slip away Scott-free while avoiding Nao, Reiji, Kei, Brown, and I?_"

"HA!" The high range and childish pitch alerted the Persona Users to the location of this laugh.

"Nope! I'm not dealing with ghosts!" Brown curled in a ball, assuming the fetal position.

"What the hell?" The remaining Users shouted, aiming their sights at above their heads, directing their index fingers to the four or so hollows of the recent doffed hollowed corridor. The ghosts were intangible, opaque, featureless, and gossamer. They lacked fingers or toes and their maximum height was five inches. Their only means of vision and speech were black circles for eyes and mouth. They were chuckling.

"Damn, this place IS haunted!" Masao exclaimed, stating the obvious.

"Heh, hee, hm, ha!"

"Stop laughing you little shits! Come down here so I can whoop your asses!" Yukino threatened, brandishing her Ithaca.

The ghosts ceased and floated.

"Yukino, this may be the wrong moment to mention the flaw in your plan of attack, but…" Eriko's sweat dropped, feeding around the bush. "They're poltergeist, your shells will go through them."

Yukino's face drooped. "Damn," She said passed gritted teeth.

"Heh, hee, hm, ha!" The poltergeist sung their jovial tune at their antics and phased through the ceiling.

"Yeah, keep yucking it up brats! Next time I see you I'm gonna go medieval death metal on your ass!"

"_Medieval…death metal…is that even a genre? She is a yankee, I can't be expected to understand everything she spouts in our tongue. Though her smacks upside the head hurt like a son of bitch and that's all I hope to experience._"

"_**She's following her Arcana of Empress, True Warrior. She is not only guarding her own dignity. She's guarding the dignity and comfort of her fellow female comrades. She also demonstrated creativity.**_"

"_Really? Then again, Yukino would never admit it to us._"

Yukino wiped sweat from her brow. "Stupid ghost…"

"_**Your other friend, the one who seems to crack under pressure, is lacking in following his Justice Arcana.**_"

"_No shock there. Brown's always been a pussy._"

"Uesugi, you can halt your own personal humiliation tactics. The barely deleterious specters have whisked themselves away."

Brown dismissed Kei's passive insults and return to his feet with his spear.

"Yo, Nao, what are we doin'?" Masao asked, curious as to what to do following the leave of the poltergeist.

"We've established the mansion is haunted." Naoya trailed his fingers across his simple earring, thinking. "We should proceed with the search for the inhabitance as Kei had suggested."

"Not required, Punk." Reiji boldly announced.

"How have you come to this conclusion, Kido?" Kei asked, his interest procured.

Reiji kept a smug grin, leaning back, his arms crossed. "Easy, Four-Eyes…"

"_Personality-wise, he and Kandori are way different, mannerism-wise they sure as hell are brothers by blood._"

Reiji matched Kei's stare, raising his right hand, curling in his fingers and pointing his thumb to back where they once came. "While you all and the Yankee were throwing empty threats at the air basically. I caught in the corner of my eye four guys in lab coats. They poked there heads from a room and walked into the hall to see what the noise was all about I'm guessing."

Kei mimicked Reiji's grin. "My theory was correct."

"Kei, we do not have the leisure of you buffing your own ego." Naoya carped.

"Brown does enough of that all ready, Nanjo." Masao added.

"Reiji, where did the scientists go?" Naoya asked approaching.

Reiji thrust his thumb in the same direction. "When they saw us or maybe it was the ghosts, doesn't matter, they ran with their tail between there legs into the room they exited."

"Why'd you wait to tell us?" Naoya asked, not angry, merely inquiring.

"Miss Amazonian was keeping you idiots entertained. Not much I could do." Reiji shrugged uncaringly. "I just kept my priorities in check."

"_How'd it turn out, Reiji was keeping on track instead of Nanjo, especially for our sake._"

"Todo, shall we enter the room and question the men?" Kei asked for the plan.

"Let's go and see what they know and what they're doing here. If scientist are living where the S.E.B.E.C. Building is in our world, there has to be a connection."

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

The scientist shuffled to a cobwebbed corner next to a antique, dust coated dresser at the sound of the opening doors. The room was a one room bedroom, holding only the dresser-drawers and plastic wrapped bed. The room was treated to the silky spider webs and dirt particles layered on them as the hallways. There were four men as Reiji had stated. Each wore basic business khakis and ties with their white lab coats. Three of them were merely young men no older than twenty-two. The last man, who refused to attempt to hide in the corner, was an older man, an elder to the other three. His beard descending passed his knees and his back was hunched. The remainder of his hair slicked back trailing his neck, devoid of color and holding no sheen to the gray. His skin was wrinkled, his body clearly aged. His eye examined thoroughly the nine teenagers who had entered, weapons away and calm expressions on their face. They were not there to harm or kill them he thought, breathing and waving his colleagues to come closer. The two groups exchanged pleasantries and conversed, conveying to one another exactly what they were doing here.

"You guys are scientist from our world?" Masao repeated what the lead elder scientist, Daichi, stated.

"You're a research team for S.E.B.E.C.?" Naoya repeated Daichi nodding in tandem.

"Lastly, the portal to return to the S.E.B.E.C. Building itself is at the top floor, but your are unable to reach it?"

"Yes, young man, we are afraid a ghost has taken a liking to the confines of the room and will not let us in." Daichi informed, a throaty voice.

"Yeah and we're to scared to go up there again!" One of the younger scientist, exclaimed in a shrill voice.

"Is this ghost a poltergeist?" Eriko curiously asked.

"Oh, no young lady, those pesky little gremlins do not frighten us. They do the usual lanterns on lanterns off, moving furniture, moving our seats out from under us, hiding our utensils. They never interfere with the electricity or experimentation. This ghost is malicious and loud and it's taken full refuge in the portal room as of the past two hours of the day."

"Hey, you guys have got weapons, right? Can you kill it, or make it go away?" The second scientist asked, terror struck.

"Please, I want to go home!" The third begged.

"Wow, men of science, pissing themselves over ghosts. How pathetic…" Reiji insulted.

"I mean, come on, guys, even I'm not that scared." Brown boasted.

Ayase crept up behind him. "BOO!" She jostled his shoulder.

"AWWW!" Brown replicated his school-girl shriek and fell forward back into his defensive curl while Ayase grabbed her sides in pain of laughing.

Daichi stroked his beard amused at the antics. "Excuse, my men, they never volunteered to be here like I have. They do not share my mindset of the utter amazement of the Deva System."

Everyone scowled. "_Utter amazement my ass_."

"I see you nine do not agree with me. Anyways, if you wish to return home you must go to the third floor and enter the portal room. If you can exorcise the ghosts from hindering you, it takes a minor flip of a switch to initialize the portal then all you have to do is step in at once and you'll be returned to S.E.B.E.C."

Naoya kept his face crunched. "Thanks…" He said bitterly. "Let's go…"

"Hold on, Todo!" Kei stopped them with his ejaculation. "I have a few more questions for the 'good" professor." Kei's pronunciation of good was a tinge of sarcasm not noticed by Daichi.

"_What could he possibly want to know from this dickhead_?"

Naoya agreed, everyone remained in the room, Kei prepared to ask the questions.

"Ah, yes, what is it you would like to know, young men. I have no problem answer any question you require. You are our potential saviors, of course."

"_Don't worry, I'll make sure you DON'T get back_." Masao noticed a flash of anger dancing across Maki's face. "_Maki's probably just as angry as everyone else, Nanjo too. Yamaoka died because of the Deva System and Maki's world has been terrorized by it thanks to Aki._"

"My first question Professor Daichi is how this world came to be born?" This caused shock amongst the Persona Users and the three hysterical younger scientists.

"_Why is Nanjo asking a question like that? We already know Mai created this world with the compact and then Aki came out of her and Kandori took her away._"

The old man grinned. "From the looks on your comrades faces, young man, it seems that you may all ready know the answer yourself."

"And by the look on your colleague faces, professor, it seems that they're astonished that we may know the answer ourselves."

"If you want me to reiterate what you already know, young men, I will. If that is what it takes for you to save us." Daichi coughed, cracking his back. "This world we stand in is a construction manifested by the power of the Deva System."

The Persona Users gasped. "What? Huh? EH?" Yukino stammered.

"But Mai said she created this world?" Maki mumbled.

Kei comprehended. "As I had thought." He thought. "Continue please professor…" He said.

"This world was constructed based on a model. You can say this world we have created with the Deva System is both the original and the duplicate because both are connected."

"Professor, were did you obtained the first of this world in order to duplicate it with the Deva System."

"Quite obvious, young man. I cannot believe you have not learned this, yet you learned this world was created by another's hand. The Ideal World as dubbed by Doctor Nicolai and President Kandori was replicated and connected to a host body."

Everyone including Kei gasped. "A host body?"

"Wait, Nanjo, that means this place was created by a person?" Masao questioned, confused.

"Yes, Masao…" Kei was quiet, his brain had done a lap, trying to piece the rest together.

"The host body was picked by Doctor Nicolai and the President himself. Thus they only know the identity of the host. The Ideal World we stand in was scanned by the Deva System whilst the host was unaware at the time of being connected to the system itself."

Naoya burst. "Back in the S.E.B.E.C. Building, at the catwalk to the Deva System, there was a display of a birds eye view of Mikage. That was the destination for the Deva System. That was this world!" He exclaimed.

"Brave leader, do you remember the restraints and tourniquets beside the image as well." Eriko added, frowning. "Perhaps the host used to be held there."

Reiji removed his hands from of his pockets. "Now that you mention it. When I was bum-rushing after Kandori back in the building, him and this old guy were talking about how the host was moved to a different room farther down in the building. I didn't pay it any mind at the time, I only wanted to soak my hands in Kandori's blood."

"The host was hooked up to the system at intervals to keep the Ideal World of the host matching and deeply connected to the Ideal World of the Deva System. It was important enough that President Kandori only allowed Doctor Nicolai, our head scientist to work with the it. When the situation arrived Kandori had us sent into the Ideal World via the Deva System. We were to be the research team, to monitor the world and investigate it from this haunted mansion which corresponded to our headquarters, the S.E.B.E.C. Building back home. Thus we needed the connecting portal to return to report or to receive what we needed."

Kei nodded while the others were disorientated. "By your logic and explanation Professor this world we all stand in exists due to the combined efforts of a host's body and the Deva System. This means whatever the Deva System creates is indeed real yes, they indeed exists even if they are reversed."

"Of course, young man. The constructs no matter what are 100% real. They do exist. The only way for them to cease existing and the matter to be reversed to it's previous construct is if the Deva System is full-on shut-down, host included. The host is as important as the core of the System itself. It is it's battery, if you disconnect the host, or if the body is killed it is the same as removing the battery. The Deva System will be drained of it's primary power source. The conditions and effects this had have not been document or tested, but we know for a fact the constructs the Deva System had created on the influence of President Kandori, Doctor Nicolai, or the host's body will have there matter rearranged to suit the prior form."

"So, the host is the key to the System itself. This world we stand in is stabilized as well as the Deva System by the host because the Ideal World in them and this one are connected by the System as you said. If the host dies or is disconnect this world and the other constructsion will crumble as if the Deva System was overloaded yes?"

"_Of course, that's how Doc Nicolai said it would work? If we fired the Deva System again it would've overloaded and full-on shut down like this Prof said and the demons and effects it had would have been reversed, due to the loss of connection to the host._"

Daichi held an arrogant smile. "You are a smart boy. Surely with the way you hunt for information to reach these epiphanies, you must share the passion of the Deva System. Is it not a wondrous thing to be able to play a god with the ability to take what men had strived to create and shape it into whatever you want. It is a glorious feeling that I share with not solely President Kandori but Doctor Nicolai as well." Bliss encased Professor Daichi, a disturbing atmosphere unsettling the room and its inhabitance. He was letting out a low laughter akin to Takahisa Kandori's himself.

Masao gritted his teeth, he wasn't going to hold it in. He had enough. "You are full of shit!" Masao ran passed Kei and punched the crazed Professor square in the jaw, sending the old man on his bad back, and causing surprise to overlap the unsettlement.

"Masao-kun!" Maki cried.

Masao was prepared to straddle Daichi and bury his fists in his face if it was not for Naoya and Kei holding him back. "You son of a bitch! You think the Doc shares you damn beliefs! He owned up to what he did! He realized how wrong it was! He wanted to die to protect the world from it and here you are, baring a fucking smile and laughing at the glorious feeling of the power to play god! You don't realize a goddamn thing! You're Deva System has killed people! Taken there lives! It's wreaked havoc on both worlds! It's taken away I someone I held close to me than any other and I don't know if I'll ever see her again! Nanjo her will never see his closet friend again because of your Deva System! Naoya on my left and the rest of us will have to forever deal with keeping our thoughts and emotions in check to keep what we hold to fight against you bastards under control! Our minds will never be fully true again! Do you understand a word I've said? No you're too blinded by your own bullshit, you haven't discovered the fruits of your labor and hard work! One of your bosses want to bring an end to his life to stop it and the other has gained complete control over it and wants to enslave and kill the entire human race! This is what you have subscribed to, asshole! You damned yourself and your world and you stand there with this shit-eating grin and laughing like a demon as if your Kandori yourself, saying it's a glorious feeling to bring chaos down upon our town! OUR HOME!"

Absolute silence, Kei and Naoya's grip lax, Masao inhaled and exhaled. "Masao-kun…" Maki whispered.

"He's been the most effected by this then any of us." Eriko informed. "You may not realize, Maki, but Masao loves our Maki Sonomura. In the first couple of days I knew Naoya, Masao, and Maki I knew Masao had no petty desire, he truly loved the girl known as Maki Sonomura."

Maki stared at him, he was walking to the door. "I'm done with you four, I'm not going to be your savior. You can die her for all I care." He announced without emotion, storming out the door.

"Mark!" Naoya was prepared to run after him.

Reiji stopped him with his words, moving towards the door. "You stay right there, Punk. I'll handle this." He walked through the door, Naoya reluctantly returning to his standing position.

"Like, what can he do?" Ayase secretly asked Brown.

"I think, R.K., is going to mug Masao in his fragile mindset."

Yukino hit them both over the head. "Show some respect and decency you two!"

Maki folded her hands. "Masao-kun, I'll…go…to…you…" Maki was holding back the onset of sadness, at a snails-space moving to the door.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Masao beat the opposite wall with his fist. "Damn it! Damn it!" Tears flowed down passed the marks on his face. He heard the door close behind him. He glanced to see who it was.

"I thought you were more of a man Inaba." Reiji taunted.

"Shut up, Reiji! I'm not in the mood!"

"Really, huh? Why's that?" He sarcastically spat.

"You don't understand! I can protect my best friend," He kicked the wall. "I can rescue us from a life or death situation," He punched it next. "I can even fight against demons big and small," He smashed his forehead against the wall. "But, I can't find one person, no matter how hard I try."

"Suck it up." Reiji bluntly said.

"What?"

"Suck…it…up!" Reiji emphasized each word.

"You don't understand! I may talk big and act relaxed all the time, but the truth is if I'm not able to find MY Maki, it makes me want to beat the hell out of someone! Not knowing if she's alive or dead, makes me want to break anything pieces!"

"Then, hit me." Reiji face was sturdy, plain.

Masao faced the blood brother of Takahisa Kandori. "Say that again?"

"If you want to beat the hell out of someone, HIT ME, INABA!"

"Are you serious?"

"YES! NOW, HIT ME!"

"I can't." Masao refrained, retracting his balled-up fingers.

"What are you to pussy to beat up the bastard cur that hurt your little bitch's arm! That called her an annoyance! Who berated her idiotic dreams! You can't hit the monster standing in front of you! You were able to before with that old man! Hit me, Inaba! HIT ME!

Masao could see Reiji was feigning his fury, his insults. "You trying to piss me off…do you want me to beat you down?"

"YES!"

"Why?"

"Think Inaba, use your thick-skull! Expressing anger is the exact way to relieve stress! The last thing I need during our journey to kick Kandori ass is you rampaging in Chaos with that big sword wielding Persona of yours! We don't need two of me roaming in this pack!"

Masao noticed Reiji's pretending nature for his first and second sentences, but the third was truthful. Reiji did not want another berserker who loses control easily due to his pent-up anger amongst the party.

"Reiji, I appreciate it…" Reiji backed away. "Thank you, I'm good."

The beastly boy snarled. "Don't tell a soul or I'll kick your ass." Reiji marched back to the room, thinking. "Shit, he saw through the bluffs. The last thing any of these dumb asses need to know is I don't want them dead or as they would put it 'Reiji doesn't want us to know he cares for us' This friendship thing is a pain in the ass."

Maki passed Reiji in the threshold of the door. Her hands were still folded as if she was praying. "Masao-kun…"

Masao was back to facing the wall, wiping his tears. "Maki…" He turned to her. "What are you-"

"Your Maki is alive, Masao-kun!" She blurted.

Masao recoiled. "How do you know, Maki?"

"Do you remember in the Lost Forest, how I could feel Mai?"

"Uh-huh," He recalled.

"Lately, I've been able to feel Aki's presence too and I keep feeling Mai back in the Lost Forest too."

"And?"

"When we made it here, Masao-kun, I could feel this presence it wasn't Mai or Aki, but it feels familiar."

"Familiar how, Maki?"

"It feels…like me, Masao-kun."

"Like you, as in like you as in Maki?" Masao stammered, trying to understand.

"Yes, Masao-kun, I can feel someone similar to me her. Maybe it's your Maki. Maybe she's up on the third floor in the portal room and these guys think she's a ghost. I'm not sure, but I thought it'll cheer you up if-"

Masao hugged her tight. "Thank you, Maki. I have no other way to thank you."

"Your welcome, Masao-kun." She blushed, Masao letting his arms dangle.

"I'm gonna head back inside. You coming?" Masao asked, grabbing the door handle.

"One moment Masao-kun, I'll be right there." Maki hung her head until she heard the door shut. "He may regard me as Maki, but I'm not the real Maki am I. He doesn't love me does he?"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"Unhand me, ruffian!"

"You see, geezer, I'm not as soft as Inaba, my punch will dislocate your jaw. Now your gonna answer the rest of Four-Eyes questions or else I'm going to break bones! GET ME?"

Masao and Maki returned to find Reiji pinning Daichi to the wall, his left hand at the old man's throat and his right ready to punch. Naoya noticed their return, seeing their demeanors switched, Masao was happy and Maki was depressed.

"_How did it come to this? One becomes happy the other becomes sad, Reiji wanted me to stay. What did he say to Masao, if anything at all?_"

"_**It is strange. Your friend is not expressing his Devil Arcana as frequently as before. He's actually accurately avoiding the Chaos Alignment as well.**_"

"_Whatever he did, Mark's calmed down and I'm glad. I didn't want him to be overcome by the Chaos Alignment. He seemed close to it._"

"_**Your friend, Masao Inaba, is a Chariot. He knows when to put down his fists.**_"

"_That is Mark in a nutshell, I am concerned with both of the Makis though._"

"I have a final question Professor." Kei started.

"What's the secret of Dio's Stand? (A/N)" Brown demanded, accusingly pointing his finger towards the unsuspecting scientist.

"Uesugi, your jokes are not humorous. Now, silence!" Kei growled. "Professor, my final question is: do you know of any information regarding Kandori's Persona?"

"Persona? What in the seven hells is a Persona? I have not heard a word of a "Persona" existing in S.E.B.E.C. especially not the President possessing one!"

"PERSONA?" The three twenty-two year old scientist exclaimed.

"That is what the President threatened us to come here with!"

"He called out Persona and this red aura appeared with this silhouette!"

"And he lit my residence on fire!"

"_Kandori threaten these people with his Persona, because they wouldn't be part of this research team. It uses fire apparently. I'm sure it has a varied bag of tricks up its sleeve besides fire._" Naoya thought, caressing his ear ring.

Kei brushed his fingers on the stem of Yamaoka's glasses in his breast pocket. "You three, you're coming with us." Kei order, reaching over his shoulder.

"You're saving us?"

"Surely you mean me as well!" Daichi exclaimed, Reiji pinned him back to the wall at Kei's wave.

Kei pulled the bolt of his rifle and cocked it, he aimed the barrel at Daichi's head. "If you thought you were safe with Masao's rage settled, you are mistaken! You have awoken a primal rage burning in all of us to an extend that I'm sure no one would care if I pulled this trigger, but I'm not a killer and I will never be. That is why I won't pull this trigger, but I'll be disrespecting a memory of a dear life lost if you think I'll let you go back to our world in the blink of an eye! Kido send him into unconsciousness!"

"With pleasure!" Reiji punched the struggling Daichi next to the formulating bruise Masao inflicted on his cheek. It was directly into his face, throwing him into the wall and down to the ground.

Kei leveled the rifle on his shoulder. "You three are to remain her and restrain this man, tie him up do whatever you can. Make sure he cannot follow us. In twenty minutes, the room will be clear and we'll be sent back, you can follow when ready."

Naoya's sweat dripped on his neck. "_Phew, for a minute I thought Kei was going to shoot._"

"_**You shoulder have more faith in your team, myself. Kei Nanjo is intelligent. He follows the Hierophant well as I stated earlier.**_"

"Todo, are we settled. Shall we proceed?" Kei's face was worn, he was content with what he had done. "I apologies for the delay, I comprehend it was difficult for all of us to stomach and I could have potentially led to Masao reaching critical mass and losing control in the Chaos Alignment. I am greatly sorry, but the information was needed if we were to stop the Deva System and restore Mikage to how it was."

"It's fine, Kei. Let's go to the top floor and deal with this ghost."

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Naoya kept his eyes trained on the left side of the third floor in hopes to find the double doors that would signal the portal room. "_Mark is pretty eager. He's jogging up the hall ahead of us._"

"_**He's madly hoping to find your Maki Sonomura.**_"

"_I mean he told me, this Maki said she felt a familiar presence like her, which could mean our Maki is here, but what are the odds? How would she have even gotten here to begin with._"

Naoya heard Seimen Kongo's beginning words stop at the arrival of the double doors. Masao was flagging them down. Seimen Kongo hadn't stopped because of Mark. He heard through Naoya's ears the sobs of sorrow an woe of a distraught women.

The crying was penetrating the doors, the female rambling."I told her so many times not to come here…she'll get lost…Maki…Maki. Where are you, Maki?"

Naoya cocked his head. "_Her voice…calling for Maki…is that Aunt Setsuko? How did she get here?_"

"Todo, did you hear it say Maki?" Kei asked, taking his side.

"Definitely, but it sounded like Aunt Setsuko to me." Naoya was positive.

"Sonomura's mother?"

"I've been telling you, I don't have a mom!" Maki protested.

Her outburst had dragged the attention of the woman covered by closed doors to them. "Maki…? Is that you, Maki? Come here…" Her tears had cleared and her voice had steadied.

"The door doesn't seemed locked. What should we do, Todo? Maybe this ghost has planted a trap. Shall we go in?" Kei asked his leader, formulating the possibilities of what exactly could be inside the room.

"_We don't have much of choice. It's either here or nowhere and I'd rather try to fight for my right to exist_." Naoya drew his katana backhanded, flipping the handle in his hand to return it to it's normal gripping stance.

"_**You have become quite proficient with your weapon.**_"

"_Can't call me Miyamoto Musashi the Sword Saint yet. I've grown accustomed to the weight, additional I'm in synch with you._"

"_**I cannot feel hostility on the wind seeping in cracks.**_"

"_Me either. I'll keep my katana out just in case we're both wrong._" Naoya grasped the decorative handle of door with his free hand. "We're going in. We don't have much of a choice."

Maki knocked an arrow, Masao swung his hatchet, Kei armed himself with his broadsword, Brown angled his spear, Ayase leisurely unraveled her whip, Eriko readied her rapier, Reiji cracked his knuckles, and Yukino gathered her razorblades. Naoya counted them off with his fingers as they drew their weapons. At the clench of his index finger, he pushed inward, the nine of them shoveling into the portal room.

Four mechanical supports displayed a large orb of endless blue. Inside was various cogs and gears which focused in on a pinch that showed the sky's view of the new age S.E.B.E.C., Kandori's Deva Yuga. This was the portal and erected next to the supports was a station with necessary controls attached to the panel to manipulate the portal to due what it needed. They had found there way home except the portal was guarded by a demoness, draped in a swaddling cloak, and worn face. Tears were fresh from her blackened eyelids. Her eyes were emerald, smudged and muddied. Her hair was brown shaggy and a horn akin to a rhino's protruded from her widow's peak.

"Tch…so it was a trap after all!" Masao yelled, disappointed. "And Maki isn't here?" He hissed, nostril flaring, cheeks reddening. "Let's do this, Nao!"

"Maki..? Oh, Maki, I've finally found you. You're safe…" The demon scurried her feet towards Maki who was readying her arrow.

"That voice! It is Aunt Setsuko!" Naoya stated, completely sure with it not becoming muffled.

"I've been looking for you all this time…Please come to me, Maki…" She reached with her arms at Maki, who was reluctant to release the string in her fingers, off-put by the human voice the demon had instead of the usual demonic tone she had encountered before.

"Is it right to leave Maki be, brave leader?" Eriko asked, posing her rapier in the case they were to strike the demon approaching Maki.

"Kirishima's right, we should destroy that demon!" Reiji added, winding up for his uppercut.

"But that voice…that's Aunt Setsuko. I'm dead sure…" Naoya was hesitant. "_Do we attack or stay put? If this is Aunt Setsuko, how did she get her? What if this is just a demon playing tricks or the poltergeist some how?_"

"_**Feel the wind, myself. Come to your conclusive decision after you FEEL the wind.**_"

"If it is really her mom, Nao, why does she look like that?" Masao's axe never lowered. He was not going to back down easily unless Nao told him to.

"_Aunt Setsuko…her breathing is thin as if she's asleep…It's emanating from the demon. I don't sense hostility or feel the usual rough breathing of normal demons. The image we see before us has to be an illusion. At this distance I'm feeling human breathing on the air._" He sheathed his katana raised his arms to his sides. "Everyone put your weapons down!"

Maki anxious fingers loosened the taunt string of her bow, laying the arrow into it's quiver. Masao reluctantly tucked away his axe as Kei did with his broadsword and Eriko with her rapier. Ayase yawned, not bothering to roll-up the whip. Brown rested on his spear, tired of carrying it as well. Reiji hooked his thumps on his pockets and Yukino put away her razorblades.

With their ways of assault or attempt to assault discarded or lacking a violent presence, the demon with Setsuko's voice reacted. In a bright flash of light that mirrored Aki's magic casting, the demon's form was gone. The light dyed and resting on the ground, evenly laid and not sprawled, was Setsuko Sonomura, her glasses on, her brown blazer off, and only dressed in her black shirt and pants. Maki's mother rose awoken from a dream and the cowl of the phony demon.

"Ngh…This isn't…the infirmary…?" Setsuko had a revelation. "Oh, it's the haunted mansion, I was just having a dream about this place."

Masao propped the back of his head with his hands. "See? If Maki's mom doesn't exist in this world, this has to be the real Miss Sonomura, but what is she doing here?" He sighed. "Guess Maki felt Miss Sonomura? It's logical considering she's her mom."

"_I have a suspicion Aki and Kandori had to do with this. Send Setsuko to this world with the illusion of a demon masking her. Have us kill her instead of him. He'd planned this all along the son of a bitch._" Naoya kneeled to Setsuko with Maki. "Are you okay, Aunt Setsuko?" Nao had not seen or spoke with her since the night they had left the school. He hoped in the bottom of his mind she was recovered and resting at the school.

Setsuko strained her mouth. "Yes…I'm all right…Maki used to get lost at this haunted mansion often when she was little, I'm used to looking for her here. I was just dreaming about those days."

"_The days when Aunt Setsuko was allowed to be home and spend time with Maki. I completely forgot she used to run away to play in the mansion._"

Setsuko spreads her dry lips, watching the Maki in front of her. "I was searching for her in this huge mansion, and I heard Maki call to me…I don't remember anything after that." She touched her heart as Maki did.

"Um, Miss? I'm…not your real child after all…" Maki tried to let her down easy.

"What…?" Setsuko fumbled with her glasses. They were sliding at the jerk of her cranium.

Kei was the one to volunteer to particularize the whole story. "Allow me to explain."

He explained what had transpired over the day and half.

"So, that's it. You're the Maki of this world," Maki answered yes to Setsuko. "But why don't I exist here?"

The transmitted portal wavered in its infinite sky blue, the gears inside following the shape of the orb, flickered and wavered. The blue was leaving the space provided, the three dimensional circle was collapsing inwards.

"Uh-oh! The dimensional portal, it looks like it's about to disappear!" Maki cried, concerned.

"I'm sorry, lady, but we have to chase down Kandori." Masao added, preparing to leap into the sphere.

"Alright, just give me one moment!" She ran to the control panel on the side, familiarized with the controls and layout; she ended the flicker in three keystrokes and the depression of a button. "The dimensional passageway is very unstable right now. I have to stay here and operate the machine or else you'll lose the linking!"

"What? No! We can't leave you here!" Maki and Naoya cried simultaneously.

"There are three other innocent scientists we have to send back too!" Kei was serious about helping them escape their hell.

"Don't worry about me. Go ahead on your own. Though I'd be grateful if you came to get me when this is all over with."

"_Shit, we have no choice again. It's not like we can leave one of us here to operate the machine and seeing how the structure keeps flickering like an old television, it won't be long before it's permanent white snow. I hate the idea of leaving Aunt Setsuko here, but we'll find a way to bring her back. If we can stop the Deva System, maybe disconnect the host body, everything should return to normality. The bizarre will erased and revamped. Hopefully that means Chisato, Yosuke, Aunt Setsuko, and those scientist return to our world._"

"Miss…" Maki started.

"Yes? Speak quickly…there isn't much time." Setsuko kept locked to the controls, the click clack of the keys caused by her rapid fingertips.

"I…don't have a mother, but if I did…I'd hope for one as kind and caring as you." Maki tied her ribbon's knot tense. "We'll beat Kandori and save your Maki while we're at it!"

"Yes…Please do." Setsuko was moved.

"Miss Sonomura, I'll bring your daughter back, I promise you." Masao swore, pumping his fist.

"I promise too, Aunt Setsuko, we'll return everything to the way it should, including Maki and Mikage!" Naoya and Masao high-five, clutching each other's hands. "We'll do it!"

"Thank you…Naoya, Maki, Masao, all of you! Now, get going, all of you and be careful!"

Setsuko farewell, forced the nine to charge into the pulsating ball. Naoya, Maki, and Masao dove in first, Kei, Yukino, and Eriko shortly after and the last group of Brown, Ayase being dragged by Reiji went in after them. In a momentary tunnel travel down the rabbit's hole again, they would finally return to their world to put a stop to the evil doings of a mad man bent on wrecking humanity with his godlike powers and filthy ambitions.

* * *

><p><strong>Persona: Be Your True Mind<strong>

(A/N): Reference to Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, it's from Stardust Crusaders for who follows the series and I'm sure if people do, they'd understand the joke.

Wow, this is what happens when I don't thoroughly plan-out chapters. I go overboard and make something relatively basic into a complex mess to where I forget what adjectives I used or what adjectives are best. Then again it could be due to the distinctive repetition of the game itself that I have to work with and the emotions displayed that I have to work with is why I seem to think I keep using the same words over and over again. I can't help it much I try to vary as best as I can but EVERY place kinda looks the same. I'm also not going to lie to you when I say I could've gotten this out way earlier, but I had to work the nightshift at my job three nights in a row, because during the summer I work full-time instead of part-time, and the severe sleep deprivation does not help when I have to write these, but don't worry the next three chapters are all of Deva Yuga and are going to kick ass. Next chapter won't be too difficult to do, but Chapter 23 and Chapter 24 will be colossal pains in the asses, just because of their sheer length and quality required to progressively and accurately portray the events I want to happen and the events that have to happen, but after Chapter 24 the second major story arc comes to an end and the final story arc that consists of the final six chapters starts. Either way, I hope you enjoyed Chapter Twenty One of Persona: Be Your True Mind, and I'll see you next time for Chapter Twenty Two: Deva Yuga Part 1: Kohryu.

Yukino: You know, what was up with the poltergeist molestation? *Loads shotgun*

Me: *Cringes*

Ayase: Yeah that wasn't in the game! *Cracks whip*

Me: *Backs away slowly*

Eriko: Yes, dear author, please enlighten us maidens. *Draws sword*

Me: *Crouches to floor*

Maki: We want answers! *Knocks arrow*

Me: *Hides under bed, sniveling* I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE FUNNY IF BROWN WAS ACCUSED OF BEING A PERVERT! Please don't hurt me! *Cowers*

Maki, Eriko, Ayase, Yukino: *Silence…then…Laughter*

Brown: Hey, not cool, Broseph, just because you think it's funny I was accused doesn't make it funny for me. *Gets hit in the head with a charcoal rock* Ow! *Ayase kicks him while Masao gentle throws more charcoal rocks at him* WHY DOES EVERYBODY HIT ME?

Yukino: Because I gave up hitting Masao when he stopped saying stupid stuff.

Me: *Wipes sweat, coming from bed* Phew, dodged that bullet, but honestly it was not meant to be degrading or an insult. I thought it be funny to see Brown get threatened and scream like a little girl. Sorry if somebody found it wrong or insulted. I apologize if that's the case. Peace out now!


	22. Chapter 22: Deva Yuga Part 1: Kohryu

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything._

Here we are three more chapters until the end of the second major arc and then the final arc with the last remaining six chapters. Trust me when I say these next three chapters are gonna be crazy and long. Just be prepared for massive intact. Chapter 24 may take me near three weeks if my interest is not greatly entertained with it. I doubt it won't be but then again I really love The X-Files so I can't guarantee anything. Also during the writing process a lot of things happened that I didn't think would be best to put at the end. Well, first things first I somehow missed the announcement of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure The Animation and All Star Battle somehow which means since I discovered the trailers last week at the time I am writing this, I spent the entire day of discovery having a fangasm hence the reference last time. I was rereading the WHOLE series from Part I to the chapters of Part VIII. Secondly, my friend got me addicted to Toriko and I hate him for it, because I can't stop reading it and every time I read it I get hungry. Next my friend who is as big of a Megaten head as me, managed to import somehow ALL EIGHT volumes of the Megami Ibunroku Persona manga AKA the manga version of Persona 1. He imported because you can't find streamed raws anywhere or any scans passed the second chapter of volume 2. So I skimmed through all eight, take note I had a vague gist of what they were saying because of the game, I can't read Japanese for the record. I can barely speak basic Spanish from over five years plus of Spanish classes. Now I'm kinda happy but kinda pissed that I did not discover this earlier. I'm happy because I probably would have modeled the majority of this stories structure by its structure. I'm pissed off because I could have used some of the streamlining tactics the artist used to cut-out the middle-man so to speak and have me lighten the load of shit I had. It is too late now for me to really benefit, but I am glad I managed to SEE the rest of it, I'm not exactly sure of anything they said, but whatever. ALSO Solo perspective this chapter, time for a Persona EVOLUTION! Guess before the chapter starts. With that aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind Chapter Twenty Two.

_Chapter Twenty Two: Deva Yuga Part 1: Kohryu_

Yukino slugged against the metal railing of the catwalk to the Deva System. Her stomach ejected the bags of chips and cans of cyan tea she had consumed back at Kandori's castle into the abyss the walk was suspended above. The transportation through the tunnel of spinning gears and infinite blue upset her abdomen and made her drowsy. "_I'm pretty sure that thing has to be the most gut jerking rollercoaster ever and shit is it disorientating._"

Thankfully Yukino was not the only one whose stomach was flipped-upside down in the rapid transition process between the two worlds. "Ugh…I don't feel so good…" Maki groaned, practically green, rubbing her naval region.

Masao joined her groan. "I feel sick, too." And thus he wretched over the railing.

Yukino kept in mind to let all the bile and excess drain from her mouth before turning back to her friends. "_Kei and Naoya are lookin' fine. Then, again, they did eat as much as the rest of us. They have a lot lest to empty._"

Naoya was a in a momentary cold sweat, pale for the sensation was shivering his bones. "Kei, what's up with the travel induced puking?" He asked, preemptively staring over the rail Yukino previously had.

Kei coughed in frustration, hiding away his brief throat and stomach gurgle. "Probably due to fact it was forced teleportation. Really, we should count ourselves lucky we came through in one piece."

"_I kinda figured we might've been able to lose a leg or maybe even our asses back there. I mean, it felt like we were ripped to pieces for the beginning stage and then everything went back together, intertwining, and then lastly we arrived completed like we were piss drunk. I can remember those days when I woke up for school with a hangover. They fuckin' blew. I'm glad I'm not in that gang anymore. I'm glad I'm not associated with those bastards anymore. All we they ever did was knock over liquor stores, got wasted, and destroyed property. I'm glad for Miss Saeko. Without her I be living a very shitty life right now._"

Yukino's praise and contradicting anguish for the two years ago was interrupted by Reiji. The purple haired boy was fighting back the urge to gag himself, he was taking in deep breath while moving away from Brown and Ayase who were all ready at it beside.

"Ngh!" He released the breath. "What's with you, Inaba?" He furrowed his brow. "You look ridiculous."

Masao turned his head, giving the scarred boy the finger casually. "Heh…might wanna look in the mirror, Reiji. You're blue as a zombie."

Reiji smirked. "If you can make jokes about it. You're fine."

"_When those two become the best of friends._" Yukino was alarmed slightly but chose to not bring it up. "_If Kido is not blatantly being a righteous prick to everyone, that's good FOR EVERYONE._"

"Todo, with everyone settled, shall we get back on track?" Kei asked, leveling his rifle, having rarely used it.

"_He's a crack shot most of the ammo he uses is for headshots in fact most of the ammo in the duffel bag is his and Eriko's bullets. Not nearly as many shells or 9mm rounds as there are rifle rounds._"

Masao finished his business and retrieved his shotgun, ready to use it. He crouched next to Maki who was dabbing her face with her school tie. "Can you stand up, Maki?" He asked.

"I'm sorry, she wasn't there Masao-kun." She whispered in his ear. As she stood, she seemed weak, but then threw her hands in the air, her bow clenched. "Up we go! I'm okay, Masao-kun!"

"Hey, guys, I don't know if it's the up-chucking," Brown belched, sounding tired and confused as he laid prone on the ground, clearly exhausting do to him eating the most. "But I see a scientist guy…over there." Brown waggled his finger to the console and overview of the Ideal World along with the exit and entrance to the Deva System room.

"_Brown, this is what you get for being a pig. Then again, Ayase isn't much better. She's laying on top of his back now._" Yukino tried to think of what Brown would say in the situation he was in except if it was another person. "_Bow chicka wow wow, definitely. He's that lame._"

"Uesugi's right, Todo." Kei pointed ahead.

"Holy crap! It's him!" Masao exclaimed.

Naoya ran to the door with remainder of the party. Standing as solid and motionless as a stone sentry was Doctor Nicolai, in his dirtied lab coat, and drenched gray bowl cut. The Russian man was the creator of the Deva Technology and the last instant the group of Persona User had seen or heard him was him beckoning them to sacrifice him and Kandori to stop the Deva System. The good doctor, the remorseful and penitent doctor forced to do the bidding of Kandori was intact, but his eyes were glazed in a crimson red.

"Sweet, the old dude, survived!" Masao exclaimed in glee.

"Something seems weird about him, though, Masao-kun." Maki added.

"_No, Maki, I'm sure ALL scientists eyes are red as blood and ketchup._"

Doctor Nicolai stroked his beard, his body shaken, his mouth exerting bouts of discomfort or pain or pleasure; they were not distinguishable. "Let judgment fall upon the foolish humans!" He blurted. "Mankind needs no future!"

Everyone gasped. "_We done this enough today, I think our diaphragms and tracheas have made choreography._"

Doctor Nicolai continued to preach tot hem in his thick Russian accent, clearly not his true mind or self. "Ruin! Annihilation! Destruction, destruction, destruction! Let judgment fall on mankind! Let the music of destruction ring out!"

"_Now he's just repeating himself. Whatever force is controlling him really outta get a new script._"

Masao was not as quick as the rest to understand Nicolai was under another's power now. " Dude, what's gotten into you? C'mon why're you talking like Kandori?!"

"_Chances are Kandori is controlling him Masao._"

Appearing beside him, transparent but vividly detailed was Takahisa Kandori, wearing his suit and spinning two steel balls in his hands. "Because he's already little more than my double."

"Kandori?!"

"_Speak of the devil and he shall appear._"

Kandori carried on not minding the sudden round of surprise from the Persona-Users at his near holographic projection. "In fact, humans around the world already share my desire for annihilation."

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Masao snapped, wanting to unload his buckshot into the ghostly demon before him.

"You madman!" Kei spat. "Have you brainwashed the entire globe with that mirror?!"

Kandori kept spinning the balls in his palm. "Everyone following a unified ideology…Doesn't it sound wonderful?"

"Yeah, to the ears of a tyrant!" Yukino shouted, posing her Ithaca in case of Kandori summoning a demon to stop them.

"No, my dear, not a tyrant! A god! I've accomplished something no ruler ever achieved…I have transcended the human."

"That is preposterous!" Kei countered.

"All I need to do now is give the order for them to kill each other and everything will be over. A fitting end for a species of fools. Nothing else will be hurt. Only mankind will be wiped from this planet."

"You sick fuck!" Yukino snapped, angry boiling. "This planet and it's people aren't your playthings! You can't ruin the horizon or the seas or the people who admire them no matter what rank or seat of power you take!"

"Yukino-chan is right?!" Maki agreed. "Why do you want to do this to people?!"

"Hah…that sounds rather unlike you…Maki Sonomura…"

Maki backed up. "How do you know my name?!"

Masao became defensive aggressively brandishing his shotgun. "And what the hell is that suppose to mean?!" He yelled at Kandori.

Kandori ignored Yukino, Maki, and Masao. "The mirror's power affects all. You children are no exception."

"_Wait, aren't we an exception? We aren't under his mind control. Is because of our Personas?!_"

"Can you still reach me where I await? I'd be delighted to see your attempt to beat me, if you can reach the highest floor!" Kandori's hologram vanished right as Reiji was about to throw a punch, blinded mildly by his desires.

"We'll stop you Kandori! You aren't going to succeed!" Naoya exclaimed with Kandori's leave and Reiji's miss.

"Oh, we'll reach you and I'm gonna be the one to kill you! I'm gonna be the one, Kandori!" Reiji bellowed.

"Yo, N.T., what are we doing?" Brown casually asked, Ayase jumping rope with her whip.

"Obviously, we are going to topple the throne of the king? Right, brave leader?" Eriko asked, drawing her own rifle as Brown and Ayase gained their TMP and handgun respectively.

Naoya agreed with a nod and after glance at Kei and Masao came to a decision. He picked up his MP5. "Yukino, how much ammo do we have left?"

"Hold on, let me see." Yukino rummaged in the bag. "Two clips left for you, Reiji, and Brown each. Maybe twenty eight shells between Masao and I. Ayase and Maki have five clips and Kei and Eriko have all together approximately or higher than thirty rounds to work with." Yukino zipped the bag back up. "_I'm happy this thing has lighten in the hours, this use to have hundreds of bullets in her and that killed my back_."

Naoya ponder his next statement. "_I've said it before and I'll say it again, Nao real is different. He has a hell of a lot more confidence on display now though I do suspect his occasional shyness and general quietness are stirring in him. We all grown in the days haven't we._" She eyed Brown and Ayase who weren't paying attention despite one of them asking the question. "_Not all of us. Eriko, Masao, Brown, I guess, and…Kei. Kei was already mature and grown up, he's just wants appreciation especially with the man who gave him his heart on a silver platter for years dead and gone because of Kandori. I'll always appreciate him, I hope he knows it._"

"Okay, everyone, our goal is to reach the top of the tower to reach Kandori. In order to accomplish the goal, we need to concern as much of spiritual power and physical stamina as humanely possible, because of this fact and the fact the height of this place has extended up passed five stories to possibly fifteen we're all going to wield our guns and melee weapons until we reach an obstacle which requires us as the final resort to use our Personas. If we have these guns and the ammo, we might as well burn through it. We have no other use for it. So, weapons at the ready!"

Reiji and Maki were the two without guns. Maki favored her bow, of course and Reji hefted his M4 with a bare knuckle. The rest had their own firearms at the ready.

"Next, Maki, are you up to healing if necessary?"

"I'm feeling stronger, Nao-kun, but I need more time to regain my strength."

"Alright, then, Maki, Eriko, and Kei will keep the backside of the formation. With your long-ranged weapons you'll be good for the demons or guards Kandori probably has to defend the halls. Mark, Yukino, you two are up front. Your weapons lack the least amount of range, you'll be the push and force to move the enemies. Reiji and I will cover you each. Brown and Ayase will be centered in between each of us. They are to strike anything that can fly above us."

"UNDERSTOOD!"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"What the hell is that?!" Masao exclaimed, pulling the trigger on the upcoming enemy.

In the wide-spread, pristine and flawless marble corridors of the new age Deva Yuga, the group of nine in formation carried onward hoping to find a staircase and were greeted with the encounter of the towers inhabitance. A pack of five completely naked women with matching back-length platinum blonde hair, blindfolded with a black cloth, and flapping, beautiful milk white feathered angel wings, not as glorious as Michael's, but were impressive to their opponents.

"Angels!" Eriko announced, as the pack of five women divided to avoid the random shot from Masao's weapon. They regrouped and dove.

"_Angels?! What the shit?!_" One flew directly to Yukino. She flicked a razorblade at the angel, letting it zoom at the forehead. Yukino gasped, the angel coming to her faster; the razorblade had rebounded from her forehead, repulsed with a holy aura. "_Shit! Come on!_"

Yukino heard the exact shot of the bullet which tore into the right wing of the oncoming Angel, right as Yukino was ready to shoot her Ithaca. The Angel shrieked in pain, awkwardly fluttering backwards to her friends, who were hover, clasping their hands together; they were charged with a cloudy white energy.

Yukino next heard the bolt action of Kei's rifle as he prepared his next bullet for his upcoming, exact aimed shot. "_Thanks. You saved my bacon. I don't even know what these things can do._"

"Physical attacks, won't work, Naoya!" Yukino informed to their leader.

Naoya was aiming his MP5 at the angels.

"Our firearms appear to damage them adequately, Todo." Kei added.

"Nanjo, we're fighting freakin' angels! The messengers of God! How do guns kill angels!" Brown asked, on-edge.

"Especially since Philemon said, man-made weapons do not work on gods." Masao stated.

"And the Punk here proved that first-hand." Reiji sneered, itching to fire.

"Technically they may hold the aura and divine protection from physical harm, but Kei's attack has injured one of them and certainly they are ready to unleash a holy attack upon us, brave leader." Eriko explained.

"Open fire, then!" Naoya exclaimed, unloading his clip into the nearest one in his sights.

Masao and Yukino had gone for the same one Naoya had; their buckshot slashing passed their pale and flawless skin and Naoya's high-speed spray plucking away feathers of her wings and tearing apart the webbing.

The angel shrieked as her sister did and wobbled in her flight. She unclasped her hands, the aura sticking to them. She flung them forward, her sisters charging their own. The effect of what she was about to do was ended with the reckoning of Reiji's M4 full clip puncturing her entire body as he circulated his gunfire. Blood of red spurted from the hundreds of holes formed by the bullets. She screeched, clasping her holy hands over her breasts as she disintegrated into nothingness.

"One down!" Reiji ejected his clip, inserting a new magazine. "Four to go!"

"_He digs that assault rifle way too much._" Yukino spotted the one Kei had wounded ready to attack next.

Kei and Eriko knocked out her remaining wing, nearly breaking away the secondary appendage. The angels hands were emitting a blasts creeping to her finger-tips. Brown swung his TMP in a vertical arc through the air, side-ways. Gangster-style as he put it. The miniature peppering of bullets narrowly injecting themselves into her fingers, no visible effect was determined as the angel fell from grace. Greeted to terra firma before her skill fired, Ayase and Brown unloaded what remained in their guns into the angel. The second sister felt the flaring pain in her ruined wings and the perpetual shots ringing into her, cringing at each wound opening, until she fell again on her skinny back, reverted to dust.

"_Two down…three more messengers of god to go_." Yukino loaded her shells.

The three remaining Angels scowled thrusting their arms above the Persona Users without second-thought. "MAHAMAON!" Unleashed from the holy light was a pool of milky white underneath. They were familiar with the coloration and idea for Kei had used in numerous minor confrontation with demons to kill them in a flash.

"_Are those sutras?!_" Yukino meant to sprint away with her friends, but as per the norm with Hama, dozens of sutras and talisman mummified her limbs to her neck. "_Goddamn it! This burns!_" Her neck wrung. "ARGH!"

The others were trapped in the same predicament, burned with the holy presence of the wards of evil and bad and ready to be incinerated into nothingness by the pore of light underneath, a suiting fate the Angels believed to what the humans had done to their sisters.

"Oh, man, I'm way to handsome and to die!"

"Brown, you all ready used that line!" Masao exclaimed, struggling to break free.

"And if we're all gonna die, please do us all a favor and shut the hell up!" Yukino shouted. "_If we're doomed, we're doomed in peace and quiet._"

"I won't allow us to die here!" Kei was not struggling or writhing. He had stolen Naoya's thunder. "Light is my element! I am immune to it's effects!" The sutras ruptured and the paper shredded, his arm flung to the air, after the crunch of glass was heard. "MAGIC MIRROR!"

"Magic mirror?!" Yukino repeated.

"Nice, Nanjo! I forget you bought those back in the Black Market!" Masao complemented the despair replaced with total hope.

The shattered glass created a reflective barrier, a thin orb encasing all nine of them. It rebounded the sutras, launching them onto their masters. The milk evaporated with the proportioned reflecting casings. The charm attached Angels screamed, not immune to properties of the Hama and were cleansed in seconds.

"Close call is close!" Brown yelled, hyper-ventilating.

Ayase pushed him over. "Like, asshole, stop cracking jokes! I'm trying to forget we, like, almost died! OKAY!"

Naoya frowned. "We're not free yet!"

"You gotta be shitin' me!" Masao and Reji said simultaneously.

"Oh, what now?" Yukino asker herself, watching ahead of the corridor. "_Angels…with armor…and…swords…when did heaven endorse violence. I actually should have thought about logic while Angels were trying to instant-kill us._"

Eriko observed the new arrivals. Floating men, with knights' helms and breastplates, wielding gladiuses. There wings were scarred and copper colored, not beautiful. There skin was blotchy and rugged, no where near flawless. "They are Archangels, the next level above Angels, brave leader."

"_Levels…oh, yeah the spheres of Heaven. Divine Comedy, yeah. Makes sense. Now why are they here and working for Kandori? Both good questions._"

"Reiji, your up. Dark is proficient against light." Naoya asked next to him.

Reiji grinned. "No problem, Punk." Reiji rested the assault rifle on his shoulder, throwing an uppercut with his free arm. "Hell yeah!" A velvet blue aura mixed with streaks of crimson enveloped him as his deathly knight of the Devil Arcana sprung forth in his stance; sword arm to his helm to combat the knightly Archangels. His free hand was charging with purple energy and kanji.

"Bres! MAMUDO!" The Persona, swung his regular hand forward, the unsuspecting Archangels each were surrounding in midair with a circle of kanji and symbols, the purple energy crowding them inward until the jaws of hell consumed them one after the other in upward and downward burst of purple and blackness.

Bres vanished, Reji angling his M4 Carbine. "Not much to it. They seem susceptible to it then most things."

"Kido, they are weak to it. Darkness is the polar opposite of light. Similar to how you are most likely weak to Light." Kei elaborated, sighing in relief.

"I could give a shit, Four Eyes. If it makes things easier to reach Kandori, then I blow through all my stamina to get there."

Kei waved him off, refraining from glaring. "Do what you care to do. I will warn us all, I only hold two Magic Mirrors now. We can only escape the clutches of a Hama Skill twice more."

"There's always the chance it could miss us, Kei." Maki pointed out.

"Sonomura, the odds are slim. We know this."

"_He does honestly kill the demons eight times out of ten with his._"

"With Nanjo whipping out his buys, I'd forgotten I bought these shells for an occasion like this." Masao said, rummaging through his pack.

"Oh, those Angel Killers, you were haggling the salesman for?" Yukino asked, reminded of the man in the gas-masked telling them they are very damaging to divine beings.

"And Kei was arguing when the situation would every call for us to fight Angels with shotguns." Naoya added, Mark triumphantly grabbing the shells.

"I bought two packs of twenty. Forty shells is plenty. Yukino you can keep the regular shells for yourself."

"Why am I stuck with the inferior shells? We are both on the front lines Masao."

"Oh, I know!" Brown exclaimed. "It because IT'S HIS BOOM STIC-" (A/N)

Ayase clasped her hands over his mouth, pulling him to her chest. "Like, make another silly joke today, and I'll totally whip your balls until you can't walk, Brown. Do you, like, understand?"

"Yes, ma'am." Brown saluted her, then realized he was resting his head on her bosom. "Bow chicka w-OOWW!"

Yukino tripped Brown under his feet, causing his arch body to fall to the floor. "_I'm might imagine he can say it, but he is not saying it._"

"Brown, you, like, better not be looking up my skirt!"

Eriko and Maki giggled. "Shall, we move, brave leader?" Eriko asked.

"Yeah, Nao-kun, the enemies seemed to stop coming. Now we just need to find the stairs."

"Mark, give Yukino half of your Angel Killers. Kei use a Magic Mirror if we are desperate. Reiji give pills to whoever is hurt when required. Your also meant to conserve your spiritual strength for desperate situation if we need to beat the Angels quickly. We aren't fighting demons anymore so our guns and your Dark Skills are our salvation here." Naoya instructed, having everyone return to formation. "Let's go. Who knows how many floors we have to climb."

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Yukino blew away the last regular shell in her double barrel in the blindfolded face of the angel striking at her. She ejected the shells and loaded up the next two for the Archangel posing to stab at her. "_Angel Killers!_"

A previously experience demon was aiming for her in the corner of her eye. Demons were mixed in with the Angels and Archangels as they reached what the wall said was the eight floor. "_One behind me, one ahead. Shit!_"

"YAAA!" Reiji's burly fist sent the demon spiraling into the opposite wall.

Yukino's Angel Killer penetrated the plumed helm of the Archangel and scorched in his face. He dissolved. "_Talk about strong arming. I've never seen him punch a demon that hard._"

"Don't thank me!" Reiji shouted before Yukino had the opportunity. "I don't deserve it from you!" He fired his M4 at the next wave of angels and demons.

"_I was reluctant to say thanks considering he did hold a gun to my head. The one in fact he's using to spray at the prayers, right now. At least, he's remorseful. It wasn't the only time I've had a gun held on me, but the fact we have to work with him still pisses me off. My grudge is not settled and he's smart enough to know if won't be as easy to fix it with a punch at a demon for me harden with the impudent rage targeted at his blood brother._"

Kei finished the Archangel Reiji was firing into with a lone shot. "Kido, try to refrain from wasting ammunition. It is a precious resource."

"Don't worry, Four Eyes. I'm not moving in on your territory. She's your girlfriend. You can watch her back twenty-four seven! I've got more shit to deck! And as if I'm in love with a mannish bitch like her! "

"You foul-mouthed delinquent?!" Yukino exclaimed, Kei and her blushing. "_Sheesh, I sound like Miss Saeko way back when._"

"Love birds! Blush later, fight now!" Masao yelled, defending Maki from two Archangel's randomly slashing.

"Right!" They both replied.

(A/N: IMPORTANT: This scene was not meant to be like a Reiji x Yukino moment. As I stated in the first chapter and throughout the majority of the story. The pairing is Kei x Yukino because they are the mother and father of the group. That is all.)

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"_Finally, the staircase. Floor nine here we come. I am grateful Kei cared enough to steal Reiji's kill and scold him. Getting into a small cock fight too. I don't think that brat Reiji Kido has feelings for me, he just had the opportunity to express his rage and took it. Why else would he say don't thank me other then the obviousness regarding my grunge against him?_"

The formation was altered as the group climbed the long flight of stairs to the ninth floor. Kei was next posted next to Yukino. Eriko next to Naoya. The four now in the middle row. Ayase, Maki, and Brown in the back, and Reiji and Masao in front.

Yukino kept marching her shoulder irritated at the constant recoil of the sawn-off. She caught Kei peeking at her as she turned her head to massage her right shoulder. "_Kei Nanjo, how long ago has it been since I met you? One year I think. Same time, I dropped the gang to stop the train wreck my life would have become. You were always a driving factor. How did it go again? I can't remember. It would make me feel terrible to ask him, but I'm having trouble remembering everything consider the lack of sleep or rest for the days and hours. Four hours in a shrine with an ammunition bag as a pillow is not a decent amount or manner to sleep._"

Yukino felt compelled to catch Kei in the act, swiftly returning her eyes to the stairs, Kei returning his gaze with her. She smiled. "_I would have joked with him ogling, then again in four steps, floor nine is up and back to fighting countless waves of demons and angels in a giant-ass room with a staircase to the next floor which will have another set of relentless waves in a big-ass room._"

Yukino's prediction was incorrect. The space was large, spread farther than the previous rooms. In fact the right side was spread to the size of it's own room. The side space connected to the main space lacked a staircase that the main space held. The clean marble was not be-smudged or blocked with the white or copper wings of the Angels or Archangels or reverberating the scratches and howls of the demons on the ground. The room was vacant and both spaces were not obscured or compromised by objects or entities of any means. "_I think we've seen this set-up enough times to know what will happen. I am curious why there is enough room for two of em' to appear._"

Masao was not going to try for the open staircase, instead her spoke a countdown. "Commence big-boss dude in five…four…three…two…one!"

Lightning flashed, ice shimmered, wind whipped, and fire flickered. The booming roar of Byakko crashed like thunder. The smooth hiss of Genbu slicked passed as slippery as ice. The brisk snarl of Seiryu breezed through as fast as the wind. Lastly Suzaku's fierce cackle as raging as fire erupted. The sparking lightning expressing the anger of Bai Hu became an glass sphere of pure silver and white the size of a human being. The glistening ice shards expressing the annoyance of Gui Xian became a glass sphere of black and turquoise beside the silver and white. The whistling gust expressing the dissatisfaction of Long was encased as a glass sphere of azure blue far lower in the air then the Bai Hu's and Gui Xian's. The flickering flare expressing the fury of Zhu Que became fully encased in the fourth glass sphere, filled to vermillion red, hovering neatly beside Long's and also below the others.

The four man-sized spheres were captured in colossal claws, shelled in gilded scales. The orbs were made for the five-finger talons. Black/turquoise, silver/white were kept high, the limp and stump forearms of the being coming into existence. It trailed to a serpentine body gold coated every inc of the wiggle and floating tail, spine trailing with fin-type spines of its own. The body's length nearly exceeded the maximum amount of space for it side of the room, the tail-physique of gold two miles in lack coil and releasing in the equal portions. Two claws snatched up the vermillion and azure glass from the lowest portion of the serpent. As it represent Long in it's undulating, the skull formed, snout protruding to sniff with the massive maw of teeth and unkempt beard of gilt with spiky side-burns. The cynical cranium following the humongous nostrils and fellow-undulating whiskers was bushy eyes brows of the same elderly fashion of the dragon's tresses. It's horns were far greater and intricate then elks or moose. They slicked back branching into two separate other horns bone-white, robust, thicker than tree trunks.

He spoke, his sentence broken. "Bai Hu, Byakko, killed by the mortal Yukino Mayuzumi!" The contents of the white orb showed Byakko roaring, unleashing electricity.

"Gui Xian, Genbu, killed by the pack of mortals bent on ruining Takahisa Kandori's plans!" Inside the black orb was Genbu hissing, sucking in to inflate his mouth.

"Long, Seiryu, killed by the mortal Hidehiko Uesugi!" Seiryu vibrated, winds spiraling in the azure orb.

"Zhue Que, Suzaku, killed by the mortal Eriko Kirishima!" Suzaku flapped, flames consuming her wings.

"The Four Signs of the Chinese Constellation defeated! Each lies in a direction! The White Tiger in the West! The Black Tortoise in the North! The Azure Dragon in the East! The Vermillion Bird in the South!" His male, wisdom brimmed voice and tone was causing blunt waves of breath to flurry the nine teenager's hair and clothes.

He was not finished. "I lay in the center of all directions, between the Four Signs of the Constellation!" The vengeful spirits of Byakko, Genbu, Seiryu, and Suzaku were wiped from their respective containers in favor of their colors to their honored titles.

"I AM HUANG LONG, TO THE JAPANESE I AM KOHRYU, THE GOLDEN DRAGON! YOU WILL NOT REACH THE STAIRS TO TAKAHISA KANDORI! MY BRETHREN WERE NOT VANQUISHED FOR NAUGHT!" Kohryu was not infuriated or melancholy. His voice, shaking and adamant as earth, was almighty, not to be defied. He snarled at the children's persistence to draw their weapons.

"We seen serious shit but bad-ass version of Fulkur (A/N) takes the cake, wins the trophy, AND gets the meddles." Masao aimlessly watched his hatchet and shotgun, wondering if they'd do anything.

"_This…is…bad…We got our asses beat by each and everyone of them and barely beat any of them. How…the…hell…are we suppose to kill all of them together!_"

Kei sported a scene of fright. "Todo, we are-"

"In deep-shit." Yukino completed.

"Oh, man! Why'd I have to kill the dragon?! Now I'm on the hit-list!" Brown was exploding into his generic outburst.

"Brown, we're all on his hit-list." Eriko informed. "You, Yukino, and I included." She grimaced.

Reiji cracked his knuckles. "What's the plan, Punk? He's not gonna stand there much longer."

"I'm thinking!" Naoya snapped.

"_Naoya understands the circumstances and the situation. Devising a plan to fight to counteract a conglomeration of the all we faced so far will wrack your brain._"

Kohryu clutched Genbu's orb.

"Nao-kun?"

"Maki, not now!"

Kohryu opened his jaw.

"Nao-kun?!"

"Not now, Maki!"

"BUFUDYNE!"

"Nao, he's getting ready to attack!" Masao exclaimed.

Naoya's eyes broaden, frantic. "Split up!" He order everyone attempting to run to the sides, a boulder-size chunk of ice flying at the Kohryu's far left, right towards a panic frozen Ayase; a deer in the headlights.

"Yuka!" Eriko yelled to her friend, running with Maki and Naoya to their left.

"_Oh, come on! Of all the times!_" Yukino was ready to spin on her heel from Kei and Reiji and leap at her. "_Damn it! Won't make!_"

"WATCH OUT, AYASE!" Ayase frail form was shoved into the secondary space of the widen room by…Brown.

Brown gulped after pushing Ayase out of the way. "Come at me, br-" The ice chunk threw him viciously into the wall, it cracking to pieces and hailing and burning his skin with the rough, dry ice texture. Brown slid to the floor, snow flakes and ice gathered on his jacket and hair. His head hung low and blood dripped from his mouth.

"_Wow! Brown did something heroic! Maybe he has matured. He's showing it again._"

"Brown!" Ayase was quivering, trying to regain her footing with her jelly legs. She was alone on the other side of the room.

Brown didn't respond.

Yukino bit her lip. "_No! He isn't…_"

Brown half-smiled, snickering. He flung his head up, giving her a thumps-up. "It's all good baby!" He coughed blood.

"You asshole!" Ayase was trying to walk, tears flowing.

"YOU DID WELL TO PROTECT HER HIDEHIKO UESUGI! NOW SHE MUST FACE A TRIAL OF HER OWN! I AM NOT THE ONLY GUARDIAN OF THIS FLOOR!"

"WHAT?!"

"Like, huh?!" Ayase was surprised, a row of tiles bisecting the two spaces of the unnecessarily big room rose to the ceiling connecting and making a wall to separate the spaces, Ayase trapped behind the marble foundation.

Brown scowled, glaring at Kohryu. "Ayase! Ayase!" He struck at it limply with his spear, not making a scratch or knick.

"_How much more of SNAFU can we get into? Ayase is dead if she has to fight a entity as powerful as this guy on the other side of the room and we can't get to her!_"

Naoya stomped his foot. "Maki, heal Brown! Everyone, we are going all out, Personas an all! If we can't make it passed this, everything we been through will be for nothing!"

"Damn straight!" She punched air, watching Maki heal Brown of his fracture bones.

"BASK IN HELPLESSNESS! BASK IN LONELESS YUKA AYASE! THERE ARE TWO TRAPS TO THE NINTH FLOOR! YOU HAVE FOUND THE DIVISION! ONE REMAINS!"

"Like we're stupid enough to fall for another of Kandori's tricks!" Reiji cursed, Masao was beside him, Naoya and Eriko moving up.

"REIJI KIDO, I AM AFRAID YOU HAVE!" Byakko's orb glowed, Kohryu opened his mouth. "ZIODYNE!" A tremendous bolt of lightning soared above Reiji's scarred head which he barely avoided, banging his whole left side into the wall.

"Your not to clever!" Reiji's shoes shook. "Oh, shit!" The unmarked panels of the Deva Yuga blank floor unlatched from the rest and began to drop into the unknown. "SHIT!" His neck reached below visibility.

"Not happening, Fulkur!" Masao had jumped on his stomach to vice both of his hands on Reiji's flailing right arm. His shotgun and axed discarded away.

"He's coming up! We fell for nothing!" Mark tried to pull Reiji. The tall boy was sunk low and Mark was not able to take all of his weight that far below the surface and him on his stomach.

"Didn't think you cared, Inaba." Reiji groaned.

"Oh, screw you, dude! HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED!"

"FALL REIJI KIDO! I'll TAKE BOTH OF YOU WITHOUT NEED OF THE TRAP! ZIODYNE!"

Naoya and others were trying to span the distance Reiji and Masao had made due to Kohryu's Lightning Skill. It required them to dodge to the farthest left and now snared in the pitfall, the brightest ball of thunder peaked above the struggling two.

Masao gasped. "Reiji, hurry! It you can kick off the other side, I can pull you up before the Ziodyne hits!"

"No go, Inaba. I can't swing with you hanging on me!"

"STRIKE MY LIGHTNING!" The ball streaked into it's righteous bolt.

"PISS OFF, INABA!" Reiji hooked Masao in the face with his free arm with his reach. The hat-wearing teen was pounded back, his grip loosened and Reiji dropped free from his grasp willingly into the darkness.

"NOOO!" Masao screamed, Naoya and Kei pulling him back as the blinking-swift Ziodyne electrified were Masao once laid, scorch marks leaving an impression on the marble.

"_Did Reiji die? How far is the fall? Why'd he punch Mark? If that lightening hit they might have both fell in! I thought Brown was dead, he was fine, Ayase stuck on the other side at the mercy of another big guy, and now Reiji's fell to his possible death! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!_"

"TWO OF YOUR PARTY CAN BE WARRANTED DEAD! YOU ARE UNSETTLED! YOU ARE ANGRY! YOU MUST DIRECT YOUR ANGER! YOU FEEL THE SORROW OF THE SOUL! THE INVETIABLE OF DEATH! EACH OF MY BRETHREN KNEW THIS FEELING BEFORE YOU CAUSED THEM DEATH! NOW YOU MUST SUFFER IT! YOUR FRIENDS, YOUR BRETHREN ARE LOST TO THE UNKNOWN AND THE LAST OF YOU HAVE ME TO FACE!"

"SHUT UP!"Masao threw his arm in the air, a velvet blue mist consuming him. "LET'S GET FUNKY! SUSANO-O!"

Brown raised his spear to pierce the heavens. "I WITH YOU MASAO! LEAVE IT TO ME!" His velvet aura swallowing him. "TYR!"

Naoya joined the fray, the cloudy white aura of neutral blanketing Maki and Eriko who were close to him, including himself. "HERE IT GOES! SEIMEN KONGO!" He curved his arm in the air Seimen Kongo mirroring him to set up the relentless cyclone around him.

"I'm with you three as well! MY MOVE!" Yamaoka spun his staff after spreading his cybernetic wings after leaving the mist.

"We are too! Right, Eriko-chan! Yukino-chan! HELP ME! JACK FROST!" Maki threw her hand to up, Eriko putting her rapier close to her face.

"Yes, Maki-chan! COME! MICHAEL!"

"Do you need to ask? Let's give this guy a hell of a ride! HA!" She punched the air. "VESTA!"

"I'll debuff him, brave leader!" Michael waved his spear. "DEBILITATE!" Auras of blue, green, yellow, red, and white blanketed Kohryu, the burnish of his scales dimming.

"I'll beat you the same way I did to your buddy!" Tyr bolting to the peak of Kohryu's nostrils. "BINAL STRIKE!" Tyr chopped his axe downward, crackling with Zan energy. At contact to the nose of the Golden Dragon the detonation swallowed the two entities in smoke and explosive brunt. Brown absorbed the damage and fell flat due to his own attack.

Maki returned Jack Frost to bring forth Maso to heal Brown.

Masao pointed at the haze, seeing the shift of Kohryu. "POWER CHARGE!" Susano-o lifted himself to Kohryu, a spring of energy flowing up at him.

"Strike all of him! VORPAL BLADE!" Susano-o's skull sockets diminished, shutting like a clam shell. His orange ponytail fluctuating. He turned his branched sword at a diagonal, his none-sword hand running his gauntlet fingers on the branches. It gained it's divine aura accustomed to the Brave Blade. He lashed and hundreds of strokes danced, weaving and cutting into the two mile length beast.

The Vorpal Blade was resisted, Kohryu silent and immobile. The smoke was blown away with his roar. "YOU WILL NEED TO ATTEMPT AGAIN WITH MORE EFFORT!"

"Okay! Help me! Jack Frost!" Maki summoned her snowman as Susano-o and Michael disappeared, Brown regaining footing. "MABUFULA!"

"HEE-HO! MISTRESS MAKI-HEE!" Jack Frost jumped from her shoulder to Kohryu's nose, evading his wild whiskers. The Jack planted his booted feet on the knick from Tyr's axe.

"A LITTLE JACK IMP IS YOUR EFFORT!"

"HEE-HO!" Jack Frost fired a corpus of frigid ice and packed snow into Kohryu's eyeballs, concealing them from the next attacks.

"YOU RUNT!" Kohryu roared again, blasting Jack Frost off with his impressive sneer.

"Good luck-hee, having short-hee arms-hee!" Jack Frost gave him a peace sign with his index and middle finger of his four fingers and disappeared.

Kei noted Naoya's attack formulating at the chance the Jack Frost gave. "Todo, are you still weakened?"

Naoya was concentrating.

"Don't exhaust your self, Todo." Yamaoka primed his staff. "I'll finish him! HAMAON!"

"_Sorry, Kei, I'm sure he's immune!_" Yukino directed Vesta at the floundering Kohryu. "FREILA!" The Persona cupped her hands in front of her to gather the Frei energy.

Yamaoka spun his bo staff and tapped it to his rib, letting his right gloved palm thrust at Kohryu. The familiar talisman and sutras wrapped the entirety of Kohryu. They were ineffective. Kohryu's skin retired each, allowing the hundreds to glide as normal sheets and sections of paper.

"LIGHT AND DARK IS NOT PRAISED AS EFFORT WITH ME, KEI NANJO!" Then Yukino's Freila smacked him in the face, the cannonade, reducing Jack Frost's ice to evaporation and steam, and the Skill scorched the dragons' face.

Vesta and Yamaoka disappeared.

"THERE IS EFFORT! GRANT ME A NEW PORTION!"

"**HERE'S EFFORT! TEMPEST!**" The boundless and ravaging hurricane of verdant slung-shot into Kohryu at Naoya and Seimen Kongo's whim. The air pressure buffeted Kohryu, the foundation of Deva Yuga was intact. They were resolute. Kandori's castle was destroyed with the Tempest, the pounding wind it produced in the rooms of Deva Yuga were delusive.

"NAOYA TODO, THIS IS NOT EFFORT!" Kohryu flopped his body, the Tempest dismissed itself.

Naoya gasped. "No…"

"_If that was our strongest attack, our last hope. We are dead. No doubt._"

"THE WAY YOU STAND, AWESTRUCK BY MY PRESENCE AND ABILITIES IS INDICATIVE OF YOU GIVING UP! ALLOW ME TO DEMONSTRATE THE SKILLS OF MY BRETHREN!" All four orbs kindled.

"BAI HU!" After images of the White Tiger appeared. "ELEC BREAK! MAZIODYNE!"

"GUI XIAN!" After images of the Black Tortoise appeared. "BUFUDYNE TSUNDORA! WEARY THRUST!" "LONG!" After images of the Azure Dragon appeared. "MIND CHARGE! HEAVENLY CYCLONE!"

"ZHU QUE!" After images of the Vermillion Bird appeared. "MATAKAJA X7! MARAGIDYNE!"

Skill upon skill, ridiculous assailment filled with indictment and retaliation. The chain began with the snuffing of their nullifications and zapping them with light speed electricity. He followed with turning the floor into a skating ring and thrusting his max through them to bowling them into each other and let the ring breakaway into a squall of ice blocks. The third step was to amplify his magical capabilities and buffet the seven with the circle of hurricanes. Lastly to guarantee his sister her quaffed furry, he amplified his magic seven fold and unleashing a swarm of gigantic fireballs to lay waste to his enemies.

"THERE YE LAY AT MY MERCY! THIS IS HOW IT ALWAYS WENT TO THE OTHERS! I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU MEN AND WOMEN TO LIVE OR RECOVER! I HAVE NO WEAKNESS! I AM IMMUNE TO FLAME, TO ICE, TO ELECTRICITY, TO WIND, TO LIGHT, TO DARK, TO GRAVITY, TO FORCE, TO WATER, TO EARTH, TO PHYSICALS! YOU CAN BLOT ME WITH THEM BUT THEY WILL NOT HARM ME!" Kohryu's mouth opened for a yawn, a orb of energy developing. "CELESTIAL RAY!" The stream enveloped them in raw energy, swirling with vermillion of fire, azure of wind, black of ice, and silver of thunder.

"_God…damn…it_." Yukino stumbled. "_Resistances and nulls I take it is how were even alive now. Or maybe we've gotten strong enough to match these douche bags somewhat. Hell no_" She collapsed, Kohryu looming over her.

"YUKINO MAYUZUMI! GET UP! YOU HOLD NUCLEAR SKILLS! YOU CAN DEFEAT ME! I WANT YOU TO TRY! I WANT YOU TO BATH IN THE DESPAIR! YOU HARMED ME BEFORE! TRY AGAIN! TRY AGAIN! YOUR ARE YOUR FRIENDS ONLY HOPE TO SURVIVE!"

"_Shit, is he right? My Freila did burn him. But that was the best I had, I wanted to give everything to prevent a attack against Kei. If that was the best I had we're screwed. I'm our last hope and I'm laying her about to pass out. He's won. That fucker's won. Goddamn it! It's all my fault he's won!_"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Yukino leaned in the chair stationed next to Miss Saeko's desk. She was precariously close to fall backwards. Her eyes were scanning the ceiling, not paying attention to the words of her teacher.

"Yukino, Yukino, are you listening?" Miss Saeko tucked a stray strand of blue hair behind her ear.

"Huh?" The leaning chair's legs clacked when it was jolted back to the floor by Yukino. "What do you want again?"

Saeko shook her head, setting her yellow suit jacket back on her shoulders. "Yukino, I asked you who started the fight?"

"Oh, yeah…I don't remember." Yukino was giving her "I don't give a shit" attitude. She was used to giving it to teacher especially when they lectured her about respecting their countries customs and staying out of trouble. They didn't understand it was her choice to deliberately act within her previous culture, she "didn't give a shit" about Japanese culture. She was a yankee and was proud of it. They also crawled up her ass when they discovered she was in an all-girl gang. That reveal is what made Hanya mandate her to see Saeko, her guidance counselor/homeroom teacher to talk sense into her.

"_Hanya can bite me. If he wasn't vice-president, I'd kick his ass. 'Girls shall not chew gum, shall not make paper airplanes, and shall not prop their heads with their elbows, Miss Mayuzumi!' He's off-his-nut if he thinks I give a shit how he believes girls should act. He's leaving in the Stone-Age, this is 2006. Oh, damn, she's talking again._"

Miss Saeko sighed. "Please, Yukino, do not take me for a fool. You're lucky they aren't pressing charges." Saeko displayed no frustration in her words, she was merely fretful. "Can you please talk to me?" She protested at her students silence.

"Listen, teach, why don't you not take ME for a FOOL! YOU'RE lucky I haven't walk out the door. Don't pretend you care about me either!"

Saeko kept her composure, not faltered at Yukino's exclamation. "If you won't tell me who started the fight," Saeko opened her desk draw. "I'm driving you home." She retrieved her car keys.

Yukino sprung to her feet. "Please…I can walk." She spied the clock; it was six o'clock and the sun was soon to set.

"Not at this hour, young lady!" Miss Saeko exclaimed. "Gang activity is high right now in Mikage, Yukino. I am driving you home!"

Yukino winced; she was a member of the Papillions. They were a notorious name to the small and large gangs of Mikage. If she walked the street she knew the others wouldn't dare mess with a Papillion. Word was the Mikage Police Department was in the process of ridding the streets of the larger gangs.

"_She's required to watch over me, right? Not like she wants to to begin with._" Yukino thought. "Feh, fine,"

The two drove away from St. Hermelin. Yukino rested on the side of the passenger door. She was tired. "_I'll sleep in her car. She can wake me off when we get there. I'm bored from the shit I've been lectured today._"

Unfortunately, Yukino's drowsiness was interrupted with Miss Saeko's cell-phone. It was ringing and she hissed sharply before answering it. "Yes, Ichiro, I know I late for dinner. Yes, I know you made reservation at your favorite restaurant. Yes, I know you paid a lot of money. Yes, I know it's our anniversy."

"_Feh, must be her boyfriend. He's pissed I made her stay at work._"

The receiver crackled in static, the man was yelling. Saeko yelled over him. "I am sorry, Ichiro, but I have something more important to do!" She hung up.

Yukino opened her eyes completely. "_More important to do? I'm more important than spending her anniversary with her boyfriend? I'm dreaming right? I'm on Forthright Camera, right? This is a joke. She can't be serious. Her face is fine, she's not shedding a tear. She collected. Maybe he was a dick and she planned to break up with him tonight and used me as an excuse. If not, they'll be done when they meet again._"

"Yukino…I'm taking a detour. It's safe and will take a few seconds. I want you to see this before the sun sets."

"Whatever…"

They drove up on a hill. Yukino recognized it when she parked. It was the one of the highest parts of the city next to S.E.B.E.C. It was actually one of the roads she remembered driving into Mikage on. It was night that day and she wasn't interested in her new home. In the present, the sun was setting on the horizon and Miss Saeko went to the guard rail of the hill having Yukino follow her.

"What are we doing here?"

"Your teacher say you watch the window instead of the chalkboard."

"Class is boring."

"You're making excuses. I think you prefer the outside, you like seeing everything, living it. I want you to take your eyes away from the twilight sunset and watch Mikage."

Yukino gave her 'feh' and looked. It was to her chagrin she had to see the life of outside through a window pane, being stuck at desk. She hated shackles. She wanted to roam free to her hearts content. She joined the Papillions for that reason. To do what she wanted, not what her Mother wanted. Not what her Father wanted. Not what her teacher wanted. What she wanted to do. Her Father made them move to Mikage a year ago, saying it would be good for all of them. Her Mother tried to make her grow her hair out, force her to wear clothes she had worn during her childhood and teenage years. Her teachers aspect her and ordered her to conform to the customs and culture of their country, to the concept of honorifics, standards, and concepts she never wanted to learn.

Gazing down to the picturesque city was enlightening to Yukino Mayuzumi. She was incapable of describing what she felt in coherent words or thoughts. Seeing the grassy planes groomed to match the households and business buildings, the stream running through each ward, the nocturnal birds and nature's creatures gathering at the Agastya Tree, the tree with blue and red foliage which due to it's sheer dexterity and height was considered hundreds of years of age, gave her a keen sensation. Is was a type of elation. Her soul was freed. She wanted to stay there for eternity.

The next day, Yukino left the school. The schoolgirls she had the altercation with never pressed charges and thus she was free to leave. Hanya told her this was her last warning. Next time she was caught, he'd laying on her the mother-of-all punishments that she would be mandated by Principle Ooshi and himself to do for the rest of the year.

Yukino was estranged. She wanted to return to the hill again. Her carefree-nature was amplified when she stood there to see Mikage in the dim of the sun betwixt the skyline. From the moment she arrived in Mikage she held disdain and hatred for it. She viewed it as hideous. Her viewing of it change that. She was heading towards the stream to see it was as pure and thin.

A Papillion gang member, who she knew flagged her down when she arrived at the stream. She was surprised to see her there. The girl was standing over something, the standard issue butterfly knife of the Papillions in her hand.

Yukino approached and what she saw made her sick. It was vile. A cat, an innocent cat laid dead, marred and hacked at. Blood seeping from each new orifice.

The Papillion was smirking, smug. If was then Yukino saw the trickles of blood on the butterfly knife. She could smell the fresh trimmed grass washed with blood.

"What's the matter, Mayuzumi? Don't you think it's sweet? The cat didn't even do anything. It was fun." The Papillion rose and kicked the corpse into the stream.

Yukino's eye narrowed, her lips quaking. It was there she lost her "I don't give a shit" attitude. The blood draining tainting the crystal water stream red burned into her sight. She could not stop seeing the dissolving fluids mixing; the pearl blemished.

"You killed a cat for fun?" She said through grit teeth.

"Yeah. All of us do it Yukino. You've never seen one of us pick off birds in the trees."

Yukino grabbed the girl by the throat and slammed her down to the ground. She stomping vigorously on her wrist until it bruised. The knife was dropped. "What kind of sick fucks are you people?!"

"Come on, you knew what you were getting into? You think all we did was knock over liquor stores and drink are selves silly. You have to have a legitimately form of fun some whe-"

Yukino kicked her in the face. "Shut the fuck up!" She pulled her own butterfly out, flicking it open to expose the blade.

"Tell the others," Yukino threw the knife. "I'm out!" It dug in the dirt beside the girls face. "I'm done with you fucks if this is what you do to get off!" She kicked the girl again, knocking her unconscious. Yukino spat on the girl on the way back to the main street.

The next day, Yukino went to Miss Saeko during homeroom to tell her what she had done yesterday. She told her she quit the Papillions. Miss Saeko asked why and Yukino replied: "They weren't who I thought they were." Yukino had joined for the purpose of being free, but those others girls weren't there for the same reasons she was. They thrived on chaos, they were psychopaths. They liked causing trouble, all Yukino wanted was to go her own path.

She reached a conclusion about herself after yesterday. She'd be different. She'd give the town and it's people a second chance. She'd break her ass to gain whatever she needed to make her own path and career. She wanted to capture the feelings she felt on the hilltop. She wanted to share it with others, she wanted to feel it again herself.

"Well, photography would be the best thing to study if you're interest in the scenery. I'm awfully surprised you have altered your mindset and attitude so much in two days."

Yukino smiled. "I've matured I guess. Miss Saeko, can I ask you a question?"

"Yes, Yukino, of course. What is it?"

"The other day, when your boyfriend called…did you truly mean what you said? Was I more important?"

Miss Saeko closed her eyes, smiling. She nodded. "I meant ever syllable. Others may not think or believe teachers care about there students, but I am the greatest possible exception to those rumors and stereotypes, Yukino. I'm here to help whoever I can, an helping and worrying for others is prominent over a anniversary dinner date. Ichiro never sympathized with me on the idea."

Yukino was brought to tears briefly. "Thank you, Miss Saeko." They both smiled.

"Come with me during lunch, I introduce you to some students."

During lunch Yukino was introduced to Naoya Todo, Maki Sonomura, Masao Inaba, and Eriko Kirishima. She informed Yukino of Masao's distinc interest in artistry and Eriko's foreign adventures do to her father's job, explaining it was akin to Mr. Mayuzumi. She spoke of Maki being a frail girl who had compassion for anyone or anything and Naoya who she described was introverted yet confident; a contradiction to Yukino.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Yukino revived, feeling Vesta flowing in the sea of her soul. "_Did you show me those in my dreams? Well, I know I'm different. I know I can stand and face this bastard. Tenacity and adrenaline are the only things allowing me to move my legs right now._"

Yukino's fear was sent away. She waltz towards Kohryu, spit blood to the side. The rest of the Persona Users were on the ground, wounded and trying to recovery on there own. "_You showed me all those days but you never finished the last one. I left school and the gang sent the girl I beat to the gates with a loaded handgun. Miss Saeko put herself between me and the gun. I can never thank here enough for that. I can never share or return her love and caring with gratitude. I'm living my life the way I want, but by the rules. It's what she wants. It what I wants. That is how I repay for all the dumb-ass things I did. For insulting her kindness. I'll put myself between Kohryu and them to find that feeling again. To capture the exact moment and feeling on film again. I want to remember it forever. I want to share it with my friends. I can't die here. I WON'T DIE HERE! KANDORI WON'T WIN!_"

Yukino's name was called with earnest from Kei and Naoya's mouths. Her ears were deaf and he feet were locked. A velvet blue mist towered to Kohryu. She glared at the Golden Dragon.

"YUKINO MAYUZUMI, YOU STAND TO DEFEAT ME! BEFORE YOU WERE DROWNING IN HOPELESSNESS! HOW DID YOU RESCUE YOURSELF FROM THE SEA OF DESPAIR! HOW IS IT YOU COME TO HAVE THE MINUTEST BIT OF HOPE IN YOUR SOUL!"

"I remembered why I'm here in the first place!" The velvet blue resonated with her shout. She jabbed the air ferociously. "**HA!**" Yukino stared down Kohryu who was opening his mouth for his Celestial Ray. "**PERSONA!**"

A shatter of glass was heard in Yukino's mind. "_**Thou art I and I am thou! Thou hast proven thyself worthy of the power of the Empress! Thou hast had a revelation of the heart and demonstrated prosperity, creativity, and comfort! Thou hast earned her Ultimate Empress! Vesta hast become Durga, The Shakti Who Can Redeem Situations of Utmost Distress!**_"

Vesta, the carroty clothed Persona emerged. Her cross-holed mask cracking to pieces, revealing a metallic black mouth guard, yellow pupil and irises with black eyeballs to contrast the onyx diamond embedded in the pale forehead The hood of the sack tore, two mannequin hands clapped around the sides of the red sheet armored head of Durga. The hands were severed at the wrists. The back burst next six complete forearms and hands dawned in black latex with bronze bracelets and gloved hands showed themselves. Two clapped together, flat palmed and bent their elbows to arch the peak formed over Durga's head. The second set bent outward flat palms horizontal angel upward at seventy five degree angles. The last set did the reverse of their previous set, laying flat palmed downwards bent at the opposite seventy five degree angles. The vacant arms of the sack released forth the final two arms of Durga in matching latex, bracelets, and gloves. They were put on her hips, the last remnants of orange colored sack tearing away. Two other severed mannaquin hands groped at Durga's bust. The wrist were pointed up. Her legs were long and slender, styling in garters with onyx diamond designs and pale fabric. Her heels were platinum and six inches. Her dress was hassock at the skirt line, sewn with a golden thread. The formal dress was loose on her lean body, designed with the onyx diamonds trailing along the Russian red frame starting at her pelvis passed her bosom to her next which was covered with the same cushioning gold as the skirt.

"GOOD LUCK YUKINO MAYUZUMI! IF I AM TO DIE HER! I WILL DO IT HONORABLY! CHALLENGE ME! COME FORTH! BRING TO ME YOUR ULTIMATE ATTACK!"

Yukino jabbed again. The gloves gain the radiance of the Frei energy, yellowish green. "**DURGA! NUCLEAR MISSILE!**" Each hand shot a ray of the Frei color. They converged into one structure right above Kohryu's head. The energy transformed into a nuclear warhead and launched on to Kohryu. The Nuclear Missile obliterated the Golden Dragon, the center of the Four Signs with a wave of concentrated nuclear energy. The implosion and explosion were contained and funneled around the two-miles of Kohryu vaporized his gilded scales and spiritual orbs into liquidation. The proud dragon became a puddle of ooze choked by the mushroom cloud.

Yukino fell to her knees. "How'd you like the magic missile…asshole?" She weakly insulted as Brown would have, collapsing into unconsciousness again.

Before her mind recollected on a certain memory she troubled herself with regaining, a card floated to her. It was Durga standing gratified with all of her arms in the correct positions. This was her Ultimate Empress, her representation of her comfort to life, her friends, the sun, the flowers, the grass. Her path of life was the Empress, of creativity, fertility, and prosperity. Durga was to aid her to gain the sensation, her completion, her happiness again, and share it with others. That was her goal and she'd reach it.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Yukino entered the placid library St. Hermelin offered. It was kozy and cramp with a total of three tables and bookshelves. No one was there except for one boy with a scarf tucked in his shirt with the number one stitch in it. He wore glasses and was writing complex equations with no errors in record seconds.

"_Hopefully, he says yes. I need help._" Yukino sat down at the table. "Excuse me?"

"What?" His snobbish voice replied. "I am busy." He never looked from his writing.

"I heard you were the smartest guy here, right?"

"Yes, I am Kei Nanjo." Finally he locked with her stare. It was then he noticed her anxious demeanor.

"I'm Yukino Mayuzumi. I was uh-uh-uh," Yukino was stammering, blushing at his handsome face. "_Why am I blushing? Wait, he's blushing, too?_"

"I'm flattered, Yukino. I can tell what you want. I am the most intelligent there for you want my help in studying. Am I correct?"

"_He's flattered, because I called him the smartest dude. Seriously, well I not humble either._" She excitedly nodded. "You bet! I need major tutoring if I'm hoping to make it to sophomore year. Oh, sorry, I mean second year, Kei…uh…is it san."

Kei chuckled. "The honorific would technically be sensei if I am to be your tutor, but in my presence honorifics me nothing. Kei or Nanjo will be fine. The choice is yours."

"Wow, thanks. The honorifics confuse the hell out of me."

He closed his notebook and went for a textbook. "Where shall we begin?"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

(A/N) Well these two should be easy to figure out. Obviously Evil Dead 3 reference THIS IS MY BOOMSTICK yatayatayatayata

Fulkur might be a little harder but it's a letter change of Falkor from Neverending Story because I'm pretty sure he was based on Huang Long in the first place.

Now I know people will be confused with Yukino's back story so I'm gonna try to elaborate where I came up with the idea. In the game it is mention Miss Saeko saved her from herself from being in the game. How she did this is never explained. Miss Saeko deeply cares for her students and will helped them no matter what. This gave me the idea earlier in the story to have a brief recall of when Miss Saeko put herself in between the gun and Yukino to protect her. That is why it was not flashbacked her. Now for the overlook of Mikage and the dead cat. I feel that Yukino would want to go to the gang because they somewhat understood her because she just moved in, she unfamiliar, they welcome her while people at school reprimand her. The whole don't give a shit is her catchphrase of sort because she herself at the time was not matured in body or soul she was selfish and wanted to break the rules of I suppose you can say conformity but it's more of a spiritual thing. She joins the gang because you can say it gives her a sense of freedom, that the laws of Mikage's ugliness and it's customs don't hold her down. She can act how she wants with them. They don't force her to commit crimes and she can flaunt the name of the Papillions (The gang is never named in the series, but I called them Papillion because it's a type of butterfly and the game itself has a butterfly theme.) So she sees the ugliness of the scolding city from it's beautiful point, the point up high were she can see the nature, see the appearance of serenity the pureness. This inspire her soul, she can feel the freedom now in the city because she saw it's true outer and did not keep locked on the inner. Then she sees the people who accepted her, who were comfortable with her kill something innocence. Innocent cat and the pure stream reflects the pureness of inner of the Mikage Yukino now feels free in. The blood of the cat tainting the pureness of the water, symbolizes the gangs polluted the pureness of the inner of Mikage, thus Yukino no longer wants to be part of what taints the inner of what she believes lets her be free. Thus she matures and starts to "give a shit." How she matures her is she was afraid of Kandori getting his way and tainting the world when she had not felt her exact soul freeing experience again. She had not shown her friends it. If she died by Kohryu when she could have stopped it she would never forgive herself so matured even farther to try and fight for the right to live to capture the sensation and share it. Most of this was derived from the fact she becomes a photographer in Persona 2 duology. This is why I felt it needed to be a more symbolic backstory instead of a sentimental mash-up to explain character connections. Though I did explain the connection of Yukino to the others. It was there for obvious reasons. Either way I hope you enjoyed this chapter of Persona: Be Your True Mind and I'll see you next time for Chapter 23: Metatron & Alice!


	23. Chapter 23: Deva Yuga Part 2: M & A

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything._

I suppose I should address that last chapter was uploaded on the day the story began. I honestly don't have much to say other then "Do not worry this story will not take until the end of the year." This chapter and chapter 24 I'll state are the only chapters I really have to put a lot of effort into. After chapter 24, 25-29 are mostly cut scenes. I will have to put some distinguishable effort to certain things, but Chapter 25, 26, the first half of 27, the last half of 28, and 29 are pretty much just scenes from the game. They are the final stretch and they won't be long. I cannot say I'd be done by the end of August, but it will not be much longer considering I will have to write Chapters 27-30 all at the same time. My goal by the end of August is to get to Chapter 25. I'm gunning hard for it which is why this chapter and the next are being heavily devoted to to be put out. This one a week after the last and the next one by the end of August. So, now onto this chapter which will check in on are friends called Ayase and Reiji. Can you smell the shoe-horning? I can. I kinda forced my hand in the situation, but the thing is, there are holes in the ground in Deva Yuga that drop you to lower floors which is why I went with it. Add a dividing wall trap and I was set. So knowing my patterns by now you can probably guess why I separated these two apart from anyone else. But do not worry. These are not vivid flashbacks we're gonna see. They are basic and faint. We are basically done with depthful flashback breaks away. They are predictable to the situation which is why I mixed them up for these two. With that aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind Chapter Twenty Three.

* * *

><p><em>Chapter Twenty Three: Deva Yuga Part 2 Metatron &amp; Alice<em>

Yuka Ayase pushed her legs to her bust, sitting firmly on the ground. She ran her fingers through her pigtails, attempting to steady her self. She was frightened, enclosed, and alone. The wrong combination for a autophobic.

Her whip was strewn about, much like her mindset. She murmured to herself trying to refrain from crying or screaming. She had dealt with small dosages of being by herself throughout her life. When she slept in her room was to her the only period that came forth when she remembered the times. She disliked the dark, the vacant room when the lights went down. It was not nyctophobia or claustrophobia because she wasn't afraid of the dark or the emptiness, she was afraid of her by herself in the dark and emptiness. Shutting her eyes to her surroundings helped her to sleep, helped the anxiety pass.

Ayase crunched her lids closed, her arms hugging herself. Tremors ran throughout her flesh. The open area was quiet, she thought in her own darkness caused by her blackened sight. She couldn't hear the others on the other side of the wall; she couldn't hear Brown.

Brown was the center of her attention. He had saved her; he had taken the attack for her. She wanted him here. She wanted to thank him if just for the second. She missed his hand, squeezing it always made her feel better. She felt less lonely. His touch reminded her, he stood next to her, reminded the anxiety to leave, reminded her fakeness to drop. She never would have thought such things about Hidehiko "Brown" Uesugi before the days that had come.

Ayase was out of earshot and speaking-shot of communication and understanding as to what was going on on either side of the wall. Her hearing began to zone out with her eyes; she was in a daze. She was in her own world, imagining she was with everyone else, imagining she was holding Brown's hand, imagining her world was back to normal.

"CHILD NAMED YUKA AYASE, I AM THE METATRON, THE VOICE OF GOD!"

The angelic and mechanical voice jostled Ayase in every sense. Her dreams were sent away at her awakening. She scrambled to stand, now in the presence of a man of giant proportions. His metallic blonde locks were crafted to seem finely combed to the left and right; the remainder tucked above his steel ears and rest bolted to his neck like a mullet. His face was wrinkled with built-in creases, his jade glass shades for vision and his puffy blonde eyebrows furrowed along with the joints of his skull. The majority of his body was stainless steel and blatantly robotic. Each and every joint displayed gears and springs. The outlined armored appendages creaked with movement. The mere fabric of clothing tied to the robotic Metatron was a white toga, strapped across his torso, letting a minor view of his steel chiseled abs to peak at Ayase. The fabric was tied to his waist, drooping his spring-loaded ankles, decorated with a holy crucifix. The last component to the prophetic and grandiose machine were his wings. They consisted of two line rakes in the design of unraveled papyrus; the twenty six chrome feathers, bladed as bastard swords, jutted from them.

Ayase choked on her thoughts to the appearance of a presence such as Metatron. She had no idea who the robot angel hovering before he was other then his name, but his aura was ambrosial, unearthly, ethereal. Her body felt holy in his own hallowed existence. This ecstasy was soon dimmed and ceased when her own mentality returned.

"SPEAK WORDS, YUKA AYASE, I WISH TO JUDGE YOUR SOUL IF I AM FORCED TO DO THE BIDDING OF TAKAHISA KANDORI!"

"What the fucking hell are you talking about and who the hell are you?!" She demanded.

"I WILL NOT TOLERATE FOUL AND VULGAR SPEECH IN THE PRESENCE OF THE VOICE OF GOD, YUKA AYASE! THAT IS WHO I AM YUKA AYASE, THE METATRON, THE VOICE OF THE ONE TRUE GOD!"

"Huh?! Like, what does that mean?! If your supposed to be the voice of god, why are you here trying to kill me?! Or like, judge me then kill me?! Why can't you leave me alone?!"

"YUKA AYASE, YOU ARE A PERSONA USER. YOU INTERACT RARELY WITH THE TRUTH OF DEMON AND ANGEL KIND. THE TRUTH OF MAKAI AND THE CONCEPTION. WASTING MY PRESCIOUS DIALECT AND BREATH ON A HUMAN CHILD IS A WASTE. I PERSONALLY FIND YOU USERS PHILEMON HAS BROUGHT UPON OUR WORLD AS DETESTABLE AS LUCIFER'S HITOSHURA OR AS THE HUMANS INTERUPT IT AS DEMI-FIEND (A/N). FINDING SOMETHING AS DETESTABLE AS THE MORNING STAR'S SPAWN IS A DIFFICULT TASK, YUKA AYASE!"

"OH MY GOD! You're confusing the hell outta me! Like, make sense, jackass! What the hell is a Demi-fiend, what the hell is Makai or the Conception! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?!"

"TAKE THE LORD'S NAME IN VAIN AGAIN GIRL AND I'll SMITE YOU AND NOT CONTINUE THIS IDLE CHATTER. I CAN PERCEIVE YOU ARE NOT INTELLECTUALY CAPABLE AS A RACE TO GRASP THE CONCEPTS OF MAKAI OR HELL OR HEAVEN. I WILL ENLIGHTEN YOU WITH A DETAIL REGARDING MY EXISTENCE HERE BECAUSE IT WILL ENLIGHTEN YOU AS TO THE FUNCTION OF YOUR OWN FRACTURE OF POWER YOU CALL PERSONA."

"Are you kidding me-" Ayase's inattentive raving to the godly guardian was cut short.

"YOU SHALL RELAX YOUR OWN TONGUE AND LISTEN WITH INTENT FOR MINE, CHILD! THE WORDS I SHALL SPEAK AND YOU SHALL LISTEN TO ARE MY PARTING GRACES FOR YOU TO TAKE TO WHERE EVER YOU SHALL GO IN THE NEXT LIFE! I STAND BEFORE YOU AS A VESSEL OF THE POWERS OF METATRON! THE VESSEL OF MY POWER OCCUPIED IS UNDER THE CONTROL OF KANDORI! IN MAKAI WHICH IS THE DEMON WORLD TO YOU HUMANS, HEAVEN, HELL, PURGATORY, AND EVEN EARTH RESTS MANY ANGELS AND DEMONS! THE ORIGINALS OF WHAT YOU MORTALS REGARD AS MYTHOLOGY AND FAIRY TALES IN OUR GLORY AND POWER! OUR POWER CAN BE REPLICATED IN A MEAGER FRACTION IF A REPLICA OR VESSEL IS BROUGHT UPON BY ANOTHER OR BY THEIR OWN WILL! AN EXAMPLE OF A REPLICA IS MYSELF AND THE HUANG LONG IN THE OTHER SIDE OF THIS ROOM! WE ARE NOT THE ORIGINAL HUANG LONG AND METATRON! WE ARE DUPLICATION CREATED WITH KANDORI'S MAGIC! HUANG LONG WAS CREATED TO AVENGE HIS BRETHREN AND I WAS CREATED TO COMMAND THE ANGELS TO KANDORI'S ARMY! THOUGH WE ARE REPLICAS IN THOUGHT WE HOLD THE EXPERIENCE, THE MEMORIES, AND THE POWER OF THE ORIGINAL EXCEPT WE HAVE TWO FAULTS! THE FIRST IS OUR POWER IS NOT FULLY CHANNELED THROUGH THIS VESSEL! THE PERSONAS YOU USERS CARRY MAY HOLD A DEMON, GOD, OR ANGEL AT YOUR CALL BUT THEY ARE A NOT THE TRUE GOD, DEMON, OR ANGEL ONLY A REPRESENTATION WITH A PIECE OF THEIR OWN POWER TO AID YOU! THE SECOND FAULT IS THE VESSEL CREATED IS AT THE BIDDING OF WHO HAS SUMMONED IT! THIS ALSO IS INTWINED WITH YOUR PERSONAS! THEY ARE YOU, YES! THEY HAVE THE REPRESENTATION OF THE POWER OF THE ORIGINAL, BUT THEY MUST YIELD TO YOU! THE POWER OF THE DUBLICATION HAS RARELY GONE BERSERK!"

Ayase sighed, playing with her hair again. She had stopped paying attention. "Yeah, uh-huh, that's, like, totally interesting. Really though I don't get what you are saying."

"YOUR CALLOUS ACTIONS AND WORDS REFLECT UPON YOU POORLY YUKA AYASE! MY SPREAD OF KNOWLEDGE HAS BORED YOU! IT HAS DULLED YOUR SENSES! I WILL EXPLAIN AGAIN AND PRECEDE WITH WHAT KANDORI HAS ORDERED ME TO! I AM A DUPLICATE OF THE REAL METATRON OF HEAVEN! THOUGH I AM A DUPLICATE I HOLD EVERYTHING ELSE THE REAL VOICE OF GOD HAS INCLUDING HIS SENSE OF IDENTITY! THE ONLY THING I LACK IS MY OWN FREEWILL, I HAVE BEEN ORDERED BY THE REPLICATION CREATOR, TAKAHISA KANDORI, TO KILL WHOEVER REACHES THIS FLOOR FROM THIS SIDE OF THE ROOM! THE OTHER THING I LACK IS THE FULL POTENTIAL AND POWER OF THE TRUE METATRON! THIS EXACT METHOD AND REASONING APPLIES TO YOU PERSONA USERS!"

Ayase twirled her hair, speaking to Metatron candidly. "Uh-huh, really? I'm sorry, you bored me again. Can you like, explain it again for me pretty please?"

"_**This is not your brightest moment is it. YOU ARE GOING TO DIE, YOU IDIOT!**_" A cute, feminine voice exclaimed in her mind.

"Huh?!"

"YUKA AYASE, YOU INSULT THE VOICE OF GOD WITH YOUR BEHAVIOR! HAVE YOU NO SHAME! YOU ARE NO BETTER THAN A HORRENDOUS DEMON, CHILD! YOU BARK ORDERS TO THE METATRON! YOU TAKE THE LORD'S NAME IN VAIN! YOU SPEAK IN A SUCH AN UNGUARDED TONE! YOU SICKEN ME, YUKA AYASE! MY JUDGEMENT IS COMPLETE! HERE I HOPED THE MORTALS I NEED TO SEND TO THE AFTERLIFE WOULD BE ABLE TO RELEASE MY POWER FROM THIS VESSEL! TO RELEASE MY POWER FROM BEING USED BY KANDORI'S EVIL HANDS! I WAS MISTAKEN! PREPARE TO MEET THE MORNING STAR!" Metatron shot his hands up to a level line.

"_I'm gonna die! I can't fight him! I can't win! Not by myself! I'm scared! I'm scared! I'm stuck! I'm stuck! I can't move! I can't move! I DON'T WANNA DIE!_ _I DON'T WANNA DIE!_"

"_**I'm gonna be frank her, self! You are the stupidest Magician Arcana I have ever been associated with! How we're alike I have no idea! We're probably both incredibly blunt…or because we're virgins! Either way, I hope you're happy! You pissed off the voice of YHVH! You are royally screwed because of your big mouth!**_"

"_LIKE, LOOKS WHOSE TALKING?! AND NOW WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!_"

"_**Might wanna avoid your eventual sentencing to eternal damnation, self? If you insist, I'm Hori! I am you! I'd hoped you'd realize this, especially when you had a conversation with your friends about this two hours ago!**_"

"FIRES OF SINAI!"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"_**Wake up, self! You need to see this! Metatron is going to kill you soon if we don't finish this up!**_"

"Like, huh?" Ayase rubbed her eyes of sleep, rising up in unfamiliar surroundings. Hori in her flaming bikini and skirt was taping her foot on a sprung floor for dancing. "Where are we? Like, what happened?"

"_**This is your soul, deary. This is where I get to live when I'm not out in the field. Homey ain't it.**_"

Ayase examined the sea of her soul. It was a four-wall room, the whole floor was a sprung floor, buffed and waxed. Behind Hori was a wall made of a mirror with a rail mounted to it. "_It's a dance studio? Why else would I have a rail and mirror? Like, it's been years since I danced._"

The wall to her left was a line of hanging clothing consisting of Ayase's blue jacket, her school uniform, a push-up bra, a sweat drenched cotton white t-shirt, a blue leotard, and ballet tutu made of pink tulle. A curtain bed was placed below the clothing, a scared silhouette clutching itself inside the blocking fabric. "_Those clothes…they're my size. Like, my soul, has my clothes. Is that…was…my bed. I hated those curtains as a kid. Like, is that's who inside there? Is it a memory of me? Like, is this for real?_"

The third wall was the oddest. It held a propped up cardboard figure of Ayase herself. It was her as she was dressed now, but her face was painted with various colors to prevent you from seeing any of her true features. Next to the figure was a dresser. A picture frame of Ayase and her mother and father rested there. Her face was cut out from her body. Besides the family picture was a row of tiny frames that were aligned to the edge. Eight of them were pictures of Naoya, Masao, Kei, Eriko, Yukino, Maki, Reiji, and Brown. Brown's frame was bleeping with LEDs attached to the frame. The last five were of Tsutomu, Yosuke and Chisato hugging each other, a black haired boy with spectacles arguing with a pixie cut brunette, a corpulent boy bowing his drooping, depressed face, and the last photo was of the timid and shy Yuko, the purple locked friend of Maki, who was aiming her stare at the floor.

"_Like, I know all of them. I think there's more smaller ones there to. Like, I don't know those guys._"

"_**Just thought I let you know, self. Thoughts are announced in your soul and if you want to fix, you know, pissing off the Metatron, you might wanna look over her!**_" Hori pointed to the last wall, a rip in the room that acted as a flickering television screen tuned in to Ayase's beaten form laying thoroughly wounded on the ground of the ninth floor of Deva Yuga. Metatron was hovering to her, his eyes firing lasers at her lifeless body. The contact of the laser beams created geyser of colossal fire and energy which bombarded her.

"AH!" Ayase felt surges of affliction and convulsion. "That, like, hurts!"

"_**Really, now? Never would guessed the Fires of Sinai, Metatron's signature manner of attack would hurt that much! You're lucky it's part fire damage. My repel effect is the singular thing keeping us alive.**_"

"Wait, like, huh?!"

"_**STOP SAYING HUH! I brought your consciousness here for a reason. Normally were not allowed to tell you out right how to resolve and evolve your Persona but since I can tell you are the bleachiest blonde in the tanning bed, I'm gonna give you a hand out.**_"

"Like, wha-?"

"_**YOU ARE GOING TO DIE IF YOU DO NOT RESOLVE IN HERE!**_"

"Like, what Brown and the others did before?"

"_**Yes! Like I said I'm breaking rules right now, but since I hoped you actually want to live I brought your consciousness her to the sea of your soul to help you resolve. Time outside is still gonna flow normally, so we have minutes for the internal stimulation to take effect.**_"

"Internal, what?"

"_**LOOK AT THE PHOTOS! LOOK AT THE ROOM, PLEASE! It symbolizes you! Understand why and reach a conclusion. Face a problem, come to a realization. Set a new goal in life. Based on what you see in this room, your soul, you should be able to conclude in a positive manner and the room will change in accordance to your revelation. I'll evolve. You'll resolve and you won't die. You don't want to die, right?**_"

"Like, yeah, I don't wanna die!"

"_**Then embrace your Magician Arcana and reach a revelations. That's why I brought you here.**_"

"Like, I will, but why are you-"

"_**Are you a woman who plays by the rules, Yuka Ayase.**_ _**Since I'm not and I'm your Persona, self, chances are I'll speed up the process you would naturally need to go through to succeed here. Your other friend's Personas have done it. Nemain and Vesta have showed memories to there users, I've brought you into your soul because shuffling memories in your head takes to long when dealing with Metatron and your learning capacity refutes the idea to show you images at subliminally speeds. So, you have to search for a confliction in your soul and resolve the internal stimulation. Watch the photos, think of your fear. The rest is up to you.**_"

"Okay, but-"

"_**Do not say you don't understand or weren't paying attention!**_"

"Like, fine! I'll do it!" Ayase turned to the photos, Hori turning herself to the riff to see Metatron procrastinate in finishing her.

"_I have no clue what to do, damn it! She said watch the photos and think of my fear! My fear of being alone! What do the photos have to do with that? They're Naoya, Kei, Masao, Maki, Yukino, Eriko, and Brown, what do they have to do with it! Why does Brown have lights? Are these the important ones? They're bigger than the rest. Why is my face gone? She says it symbolizes my soul. Like, is this suppose to mean I have no true face. No, I don't show my true face to anyone, except for Brown. My fear dominates me and I lied, borrowed, and stealed to find those asshole friends. I can see there faces on those teeny-tiny ones. They didn't care about me, they left me to die when that demon attacked me and the main reason I was there was because THEY wanted to smoke. So, if they're there, these photos have to be relationships I have, right? That makes sense, but what is the important stuff. If the biggest ones don't relate, because I don't show any of them my true face except for Brown and maybe Eriko. What does it mean? DAMN IT! I hate being blonde!_"

"_**In reality, being blonde is a stereotype. You're just an airhead who is incredibly blunt, self.**_"

"_Blunt? Me? I say what's on my mind. Wait!_" Ayase forgot the pictures of her battle companions and strayed to the remaining five. "_Tsutomu and Yosuke and Chisato, we technically helped all of them, right? That's why they're big, but the last two are different. Tadashi Satomi and Tamaki Uchida are yelling at each other over dumb things. Why does this relate to me? I mean I have a lot of classes with them, but, like, we don't talk. Like, I think I sat at there table at lunch too. They are always arguing over Satoshi Pharmacy and how Tamaki says so many weirdo things about demons and how she used to summon them and stuff. They always call each other stupid names too. I think they used to call on me to decide who was right and wrong. Like I care about what they're saying._"

"_**WINK! WINK! WINK!**_"

"_Like, stop! I'm concentrating!"_

"_**Why did I ever agree to do this?**_"

"_The last one's Kenta Yokouchi, we always call him Toro or Chunky because of how fat he is. He never seems to mind so I call him it. I think we, like, played Persona together. Yeah, a group of people did it as a dare after school and Toro was one of the Rumormongers (A/N) to spread the rumor after we did it. Then, he became freaky, saying Butterfly-sama said he was important. Is he an idiot? Like, a fatty like him could be important. Then he had the nerve to ask ME out on a date. He was all confident and bowed and kissed my hand with his disgusting chapped lips and asked me in this ridiculous stutter if I'D go out with him. I told him liked I go out with a fat-ass blob like him. I don't remember when he did it, but I heard he cried._"

"**WINK! NUDGE! NUDGE! WINK!**"

"Stop it!"

"_**You've got five minutes from the looks of it. Metatron is giving you last rights or just lecturing you on your foulmouth and stupidity.**_"

"_Yuko is next to Toro. I thought he was the last one. Yuko always was a mouse. She would never say a word and we had clean-up duty together. So, I had her do all the work, because I knew she had no guts to say otherwise and when we had to seal the hole to the gym I had her carry all the boxes, because I knew she wouldn't say no. What do these four have in common? I was a total bitch to them, I guess. Yeah, I didn't pay attention to Tamaki and Tadashi, I made Yuko do my work, and I verbally abused Chunky, yikes, I mean Kenta. It's just how I am. Eriko was nice enough to not tell it to me to my fake face. She decided to hang with me some times because she didn't mind I was a stuck a bitch. She's a decent person, I can say that. Brown was my partner in crime on a lot of pranks and rumors. We were the ambiguously disastrous duo. It was awesome, but I never ever felt anything for him. Is it because, I took advantage of him before. Is this guilt? Is that why I want to be close to him? Is that why I showed him my true face? Showed him my fear. My fear of being alone is gone when I'm with people of course, but I'm afraid to show people my true face because I'm afraid of being alone or rejected. That's why I rejected Kenta, I was afraid of people thinking I was gross for being with him. That's why I didn't pay attention to Tamaki and Tadashi, because I was afraid my fake friends would think I was weird and leave me if I talked to them. That's why I rode Yuko, because she was weak and I was stepping on her like my fake friends would. I did it all for those cigarette smoking dicks and bitches and they left me to fucking die and be eaten by that monster! They saved there own damned skin, put their tails between their ball-less legs and ran when I was in trouble. They didn't even go for help. Naoya, Eriko, and Yukino had to save me. I had to awaken to my Persona ability. I had to be loyal to them and follow them to repay for saving my life and now I'm here: ready to die with the end of all humanity at stake and I can't solve my own soul. I'm a terribly person, I am a horrible person. I've wronged those four, I ruined Kenta and Yuko because of those bastards I called friends. It took me until my true life's last moment and humanity ready to be wiped out for me to find myself. For me to realize, I was a completely and total idiot for doing the things I've done for years. I let my fear, the anxiety control me and I did wrong things to the wrong people. I can't stand for myself anymore! I want to live! I want to live to change myself! I want to apologize to them, I want them to try to forgive me for my pretentious behavior. I want them to see my true face. All of them. I can't fear rejection from others, it's part of living. I may have to live with the fear of being alone all my life, but I'll fight it. I'll beat it, because I know at least one person chose to stay by my side when I did._"

"_**Bingo!**_"

Ayase touched Brown's photo, witnessing the LEDs and his smiling grin. "_He saved me. I have to thank him. I have to tell him what I can. I can't die knowing Yuko, Kenta, Tadashi, Tamaki, and everyone else thinking of me being a hoity-toity, pretentious bitch in the end of humanity. I have to apologize. I have to! If I can survive this! If we can stop this! I promise myself, I promise any body listening that I'll change, I won't allow my fear rule me. I'll show everyone my true face!_"

"_**Revelation complete! You go girl!**_"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"YUKA AYASE, YOU HAVE AWAKENED! I'M AFRAID YOUR DEATH IS ASSURED! I CAN SENSE THE AURA OF YOUR PERSONA, IT CANNOT COMPARE TO MINE!"

Ayase picked up her whip, her bleeding knees buckling. Her socks and jacket were torn in segments. She rolled the whip leisurely.

"HAS YOU BLASPHEMOUS MOUTH ACCEPTED ITS FATE AS WELL!"

"Like, hell no!" Ayase unraveled the whip in a wave of her wrist, a velvet mist consuming her. "**I wanna live!**" She lashed her whip and reclined her head with her weakened forearms."**HERE, PERSONY!**"

A shatter was heard in Ayase's mind. "_**Thou art I and I am thou! Thou hast proven thyself worthy of the power of the Magician! Thou hast had a revelation of the heart and demonstrated action, initiative, and self-confidence! Thou hast earned her Ultimate Magician! Hori hast become Freyr, God of the Sun and Rain!**_"

Hori performed a pirouette, her fire bikini and hula skirt deluging, leaving her bare and spinning. The flames shaded the gamboling maiden, capturing her in an egg of fire. Herculean biceps and knuckles of tanned tone burst from the egg. Matching legs and thighs of deftness freed themselves next. The flames blanketing, unfolded and extinguished, a well-toned triceps and ribs and a sandy blonde scruffy beard and flowing back-length hair arrived to Metatron. The God of Sun and Rain stood prominently a maroon cape and loin rippling. Tucked into the loincloth was a scabbard of a claymore, embedded with garnets and spinals.

"YOU HAVE RESOLVED YUKA AYASE! IN A SHORT TIMEFRAME IS IMPRESSIVE BUT A FALSE IDOL CANNOT DEFEAT THE METATRON!"

Ayase's pigtails broke free from their ties, the velvet mist bustling her strands. Her bangs fell in her eyes, shadowing them. She flipped her hair and glared at the artificial lenses the Voice of God used for his Fires of Sinai. "**FREYR! Let's show him the power of the sun!**"

Freyr's held his scabbard horizontal, gripping the handle of the claymore. "_**Yes, Mistress!**_"

"_**SANDASU (A/N)!**_" The two exclaimed at once, Freyr drawing his sword and shooting gouts and veins of ardent flames at the machine. The streaks and globs of fire cavorted around Metatron until Freyr and Ayase's call.

"_**AGIDYNE SORAROZU (A/N)!**_" Freyr slashed his claymore, controlling the fire. The gout pounced and tackled Metatron into the dividing wall, the searing flames smelting his armor. The veins interconnected and a novel-esque circle, each streak following the other in baroque ovals and seed patterns. The mass of fire and streams compressed together to become a molten comet of lava. The smoldering rock of compacted heat, fire, and magma flattened Metatron against the divider wall.

Freyr stabbed his claymore two-handed into the ground. "_**SETTINGU SANROZU (A/N)**_!" The meteor exploded, a sloshing vortex of lava swallowing the angel and the marble wall, disintegrating them into a steam and cooked hissing mess of sprockets, gears, and a bone-metal exoskeleton. The marble was condemned and destroyed with the Settingu Sanrozu and Metatron's sparking and melted-in face was embroidered with carved roses, the lava deliberately exsiccated at his spilled deliquesce iron splashed with the marble puddle. His joints and metallic armor were useless to the extraordinary temperature and impact of the comet. It melted the robotic Voice from chaise to the mechanical guts and structure to maintain YHVH's servant and throat.

Ayase limped and stumbled, avoiding the shambles left of Metatron. She was hoping to see her friends alive and Kohryu gone. When she reached the area, she fell to a corner, Brown laying flat, wounded heavily. Everyone else was laying face-down she noted. Kohryu was a mess of gilded liquidized flesh and scales now.

"Brown! Brown! Wake up! This is no time for joking!" She shook him.

"COME ON! REIJI! YOU DICK! WAKE UP! YOU HAVE THOSE PILLS!" She looked to find the jack-ass herself. "Where the hell are you?! I can't heal them! MAKI! MAKI!" The ribbon-wearing girl refused to stir and Ayase was ready to lose consciousness again.

"COME ON! PLEASE, YOU GUYS! WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!" She used the full capacity of her lungs to scream, but the Persona Users were done, ravaged by the might of the Four Signs techniques and Kohryu's Celestial Ray.

"PLEASE! WAKE UP! IT CAN'T END HERE! SOMEONE ANSWER ME!" Ayase was congested, tears flowing at her helplessness. "ANSWER ME! Please…" She shut her eyes again, to see the blackness. She'd lost too much blood, they'd all lost too much blood. Without healing they would lay there on the pure stone and fill it with crimson.

"I AGREE YUKA AYASE, IT CANNOT END HERE!"

Ayase relieved her eyes to witness a ghastly version of the Seraphim, Metatron, devoid of his vessel's size, and lacking his body below his shoulders. He was not corporeal. He was intangible and seemed to Ayase close to disappearing. "LIKE, HUH?!"

"DO NOT CONCERN YOURSELF YUKA AYASE! I HAVE YET TO THANK YOU FOR YOUR ACTIONS! YOU'VE FREED MY POWERS FROM THE EVIL OF TAKAHISA KANDORI! I SHALL GRANT YOU A GIFT TO CARRY ON IN THIS PRESENT, YUKA AYASE AS THANKS AND GRACES BEFORE I DEPART!" Metatron angled his arms and they shot up. "SALVATION!"

Halos of glorious light went over all eight of the party, healing and reviving them, erasing their wounds and received damage. Ayase jerked her repaired jacket. "Why did you-"

"MY VESSEL DUPLICATE WAS BOUND TO DO KANDORI'S BIDDING! I TRULY DO DETEST YOU PERSONA USERS BUT IF MAN FALLS HER THERE WILL BE NO ONE WHO CAN STOP KANDORI'S AMBITIONS! US SERAPHIM AND ANGELS CAN ONLY STRIKE TO TAKE THIS WORLD WHEN IT IS THE LORD'S WILL! IF I AM INTERFERRING WITH THE MASTER PLAN SO BE IT! IT IS MY THANKS THINK NOTHING OF IT, YUKA AYASE! YOU AND YOUR COMRADES ARE YOUR RACES LAST HOPE! DO NOT FAIL OR MY LORD YHVH WILL BE DISAPPOINTED! I'M SURE THE MORNING STAR WOULD BE AS WELL!" Metatron vanished, leaving his parting words and gift to Ayase.

"_What the hell is HE FUCKING TALKING ABOUT_?!"

"_**Mistress, he is referring to Lucifer and YHVH wanting to take this world for themselves for years but are not allowed. Therefore if Takahisa Knadori succeeds and destroys your race, this world, this earth holds less value for the Demon World, Heaven, Hell, and even Purgatory.**_" Freyr voice was gruff and German.

"_I've heard those names to many times today!_"

"_**Do not worry, Mistress they have no relationship to the situation at our laps. All angels speak of their Lord and the different realms.**_"

"_So, the whole time he was talking shit that didn't even make a difference (A/N: It will matter way later in another novelization of this serious. SO just keep them in mind for later please)?! WHAT THE HELL?!_"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"Welcome! It's a pleasure to meet you!" A voice, Reiji could not identify with any tone or affection called. He was pacing on the levitating plateau in this endless abyss he had landed in. The other man on the platform was, cloaked in the shadows and let Reiji's see only his bat-like wings and scarlet pupils.

"Where the hell is this? Who the hell are you?" Reiji questioned, wanting the answer to why he had gone from collecting money from beating all of those guys in a brawl to here.

"Not important! I have a test for you! State your name!"

"Reiji Kido!" He snarled. "Now answer me, bastard!" He balled his fists.

"Good, good! You remember your name! You are perfect, Reiji Kido! Perfect!"

"You're really startin' to piss me off!"

"Splendid! Now, tell me if you are aware of the many selves within yourself!"

"Okay, guess I'm gonna have to beat it outta ya!" Reiji charged the shrouded, winged man and battered him with a flurry of punches. He stopped when he realized his blows weren't connecting. He clearly saw them hit him, but they did not feel like they were. He pulled back his fist and nailed the side of the man's cloaked face with a roundhouse kick. In his momentum, he spun on the ball of his heel and landed a snap kick to his abdomen.

"Shit! What the hell are you?!" Reiji's kicks did nothing as well, causing the boy to back away.

"Violence is your instinct, that is splendid, Reiji Kido. I've seen your demonstrated performance! You fought those other degenerates over petty cash like a monster in human skin."

"How the hell did you see us?! That alley was deserted and the brawl was done less than five minutes ago!"

The man's red eyes red the sky. "Ah, yes, I see it, your past. I was correct. A minor confliction, but it will not change my proposal. You fight for revenge for the man who wronged you. This is my proposal." The man open his palm in the shadow, a miniature of a gothic-style medieval knight with a blood-stained-forged sword for a hand appeared in a flash of crimson. The knight was crouching, paying respects.

"What the shit is that?" Reiji was sweating.

"Accept the power I give you, the power to unleash the many selves within yourself. The selves effused with demonic cruelty. The selves whimpering with divine love. You mortals live by wearing different masks. I can see your current self is the countenance of a man who has been wronged. The mask of a man whose soul had been stewed in hate. This may be one of innumerable masks, but I think you know it is your true self." The miniature disappeared, Reiji feeling a sensation of piercing.

"I offer you this power, become my Knight of Chaos! Become the servant to the King! Close your ears to logic and embrace your inner desires! Love the chaos! Fill your soul with disaster! You'll become my Knight, Reiji Kido! Now return to your proper time and place!"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"_**Sire! Sire, arise!**_"

"_SHUT UP, BRES! I JUST FELL DOWN A SHAFT! I'M LUCKY MY SPINES IN ONE PIECE!_"

"_**Sire, open your eyes, please.**_"

"_You showed me that memory in my sleep again didn't you? I thought I told you to do two things: never speak to me and NEVER show me that shit again. I don't need to remember how I got this power ever night._"

"_**But, sire, that dreams is relevant for your growth. You need to understand the man's true intentions.**_"

"_Stop talking! I know the dude was Butterfly Mask's competitor, whatever his name is. I don't care!_"

"_**But, sire, he was deceiving you! You surely had to see it! He wanted to take control of you with the Alignment Dogma and your intentions!**_"

"_Yeah, Bres, I understand! Now, leave! I'm waking up!_"

"_**Sire, you do not understa-**_"

"_LEAVE!_" Bres ceased his speech. "JESUS! Finally, peace and quiet!" He exclaimed, coping to the strobe glare of the lightening as he woke up in the room he fell to.

He popped four pills for the bruising on his ankles he discovered. "_I must've passed out after the fracture. Shit, that sucks. Glad I have the medicine on me._" Reiji noticed his surroundings. "_Kandori really knows how to reuse the same design for every room, huh? This is god's era architecture, marble and granite. Now, where's the stairs. I have to get back to those idiots before they get killed by that dragon. I'm gonna flip shit, if Masao got his ass shocked and burnt after I fell the equivalent of three stories so both of us didn't end up with our legs broken._"

"_**Sire, you're not alone!**_"

"_BRES!_" Reiji was frustrated with his Persona's constant chatter.

"_**Macabre and dreadful aura behind you, Sire!**_"

"Hi, Mister!"

"_A little girl? HERE?! You're worried about a kid, Bres?_"

"_**Sire, she is no child. Her aura is dreading. Can you not feel it, Sire?**_"

Reiji noticed the girl casually standing ten feet away from him tying the straps to the sash band around the waist of her light purple sundress. She then went to check her buckle-up dress shoes. After her double check of her shoes, fluffed the ends of her neck-length blonde hair. "_Yeah, she's menacing all right? Jesus, Bres, you are a pussy._"

"_**Sire, please, do not approach her!**_"

"Hey, kid, what's your name!" Reiji asked, taking a half-step to the girl.

The girl curled her fingers around each other behind her back. She swung them to Reiji, two dolls magically appearing in her hands. "I'm Alice, Mister." Her voice was excited.

She jiggled the doll of a balding Caucasian man in a pricy red tuxedo garb. Her lips pouted. "This is Count Red, I call him Uncle Red." She was sullen.

She brought up the second doll, continuing to pout. "This is Baron Black, I call him Uncle Black." She introduced the doll of a hairy-headed African man dressed in a suave black butler attire. Her melancholy at her introductions was easily identified.

"_Names her dolls, introduces them as if they're real people. Told me her first name, not her last. Yeah, this is a little kid. Guess her mother never told her to talk to strangers._"

Reiji straightened his stance. "Alice, what's a kid like you doing here?"

Alice replied quickly. "Miss Aki said I was suppose to boss the demons around. It's funny, Mister!"

"_Boss the demons around? This brat? She knows Aki too. How does that work?_" Reiji was off-kilter at Alice's statement.

"Hey, Mister, what's your name? I told you mine, so it's only fair if you tell me yours."

"Uh, Reiji…" He stammered preoccupied. "_Is she really evil like Bres said? If she knows Aki and she was at the bottom of the rabbit's hole trap set up, maybe she is my enemy._"

"_**Curiouser and curiouser isn't it, Sire. Perhaps I had weight to my argument.**_"

"_What? You wanna cookie, Bres? One that makes you bigger, huh?_"

"_**I think it would be appropriate to watch your opponent, Sire.**_"

"_Please, Bres, she's playing with Tweedledee and Tweedledum in her hands and she's dressed so properly, like she's going to a tea party or something, I doubt she'll fight dirty._"

"_**Sire, the odds of here being a cut-throat demon and not as kind as a march hare or door mouse are very slim**_."

"_Does she look like a griffin to you Bres? Does she look like she can maul me or take my head off?_"

"Hey, Mister, I have another question for you?"

Reiji dismissed Bres' conversation "Huh? Yeah, what, kid?"

The next six words that came out of Alice was a sentence you'd hope a young girl of a seven-year old appearance would never utter. "Could you please die for me?" Her question was not miss-matched, miss-comprehended, or a mistake. Alice meant it entirely.

"_Holy shit! A little girl just asked me to die for her?!_"

"_**Is she not malicious, Sire? Can you sense it now?**_"

"_Shut up, Bres! I'm just gonna tell her no. She can't be that dangerous._"

"_**Man's last words, Sire.**_"

"_Pipe down_!" Reiji hooked his thumps to his pants pockets. "Sorry, kid, can't do that. I have business to take care of. For starters, how to get out of this room. Do you know where the staircase is?"

"You won't do what I ask?" Alice collapsed to her porcelain knees. She girl acted heart-broken, deathly hurt. She began to cry, waving her dolls. "WAAH! You're so mean! You're so mean!"

"_**Well-done, Sire.**_"

"_COME ON! I'm the bad guy! She just asked me to die for her? What the shit was I supposed to say: SURE, HAPPY UNBIRTHDAY!_"

Alice stared at Count Red, the Black Baron's fingerless hands wiping her tears at her control. "Uncle Red, listen! That big boy, Reiji, was so mean to me!"

She put Count Red ahead of her face. Her cracked, upset voice was replaced with a imitation of a gentlemen's voice, deprived of her crying and shrillness. "There, there…what's the matter, Alice?"

She moved the doll and was automatically returned to crying and shrillness. "You see…sniff…I…sniff…asked that big kid Reiji…sniff…to die for me…sniff…but he wouldn't do it! WAAH! I wanted him to die! I asked him nicely, Uncle Red! WAAH!"

Baron Black took the stage, borrowing Count Red's voice. "Do you have any idea what you have done?! You have just crushed the meager dreams of a little girl under the heel of your boot!"

Count Red masked Alice again, replying to her. "I see, I see. There, there, now, Alice. Don't you worry! Uncle Red will see to it that you get your wish!"

Baron Black made a short visit. "Don't worry, Alice, we'll make it so you never have to stop smiling!"

"_She's got good crocodile tears and puppet show, but she still just a demonic-ish kid, right, Bres?_"

"_**Sire, I did not jest when mentioning her aura was macabre and dreadful. I do believe she wants you gone and either she'll do it herself or those dolls will.**_"

"_As if I'll be done in by a brat's dollies? I have a bastard brother ass to kill, I don't have time for this shit_!"

"Listen, Alice, I don't have time for games! Tell me where the stairs are?"

Alice hopped to her feet, scorning Reiji. "DIE FOR ME!"

"_HOLY SHIT!_ _ARE THOSE CARDS?!_" Descending from a puff of smoke was a relentless shower of card soldiers, labeled one to ten of hearts and spades, wielding war scythes and spears with their color-assigned hands and aiming with intent to skewer and run Reiji through with their hooded heads. The kanjis and characters of Mudo embodied them along with the purple energy. They stabbed and sliced in fives, wave after wave launching from the bottomless puff Alice had called to attack.

Reiji felt the permanent sting of cards flying at him, their sharp weapons breaking and cutting through his school coat to his bare chest and knuckles including the rest of his figure. "_HOLY SHIT! This hurts, goddamn it! Even after the first wave falls and disappears a second wave immediately hits me at speeds I can't begin to comprehend! FUCK! How the hell does this even work?! I can sense the Dark in the Skill! HOW IS IT EFFECTING ME?!"_

Alice grinned, playing with Count Red and Baron Black as her Die for Me! poured and soaked Reiji in card soldier upon card soldier. She gained a full-on smile as the war scythes caused his lacerations to spurt and the little clothing he wore to be mucked.

"_Shit…AH! I can feel it, now, Bres! DAMN IT ALL! I can see it…UGH…on her face! Nothing but murderous intent in her eyes! AGH!_"

"_**AGH! Yes, Sire, she is formidable, and her aura is quite intimidating! Her murderous intent fuels this special Dark Skill! It is penetrating my Nullification to Dark! If is was not straining my statistics to one-hundred percent, Sire, these spears would have surely immediately reduced you to chunks of meat!**_"

"_I can't last much longer, Bres! I can't even move!_ _This kid really wants me dead, each time the spears plunge, I can feel her glaring into my soul._" Reiji forgot the rain of strokes avoiding his skull and savagely abusing the rest of his figure. "_Her eyes are like mine! Some one whose been wronged and looking for revenge!_"

"_**Sire, I can feel the Dark dwindling! I'll stress my miniscul power to it's limits! I will not allow you to die, Sire! Do no worry!**_"

This boggled Reiji, the canals of his mind wringing, the fast stings buffed to righteous torture. "_Why would you do that?! AAH! SHIT! I been a asshole to you for the whole time!_"

"**Sire, you have to live to witness this girl's story! She is akin to you and your predicament! You can see it, I can sense it! You have to live to understand because she is what you are, Sire!**"

Reiji gasped, incredulous, but then his teeth clenched, relief hugging him, his blood exhuming him. The card soldiers had stopped, leaving him to his own devices. The scarred boy's eviscerated fingers broke the childproof cap of his medicine bottle, his strength nearly crushing the plastic of the bottle. He jammed the bottle under his nose and chugged down half the container. The mediocre Dia substitutes mended his bones, sinews, and coat, his internal systems pressured to refresh the loss of fluids. He slowly crept away from the walking dead to a trodden teenage swept by a girl's infantile phantasmagoric Dark Skill.

"Oh, phooey, you didn't die for me!" Alice complained, channeling Aki and blowing a raspberry at Reiji, the boy slipping in posture. "I'll ask you nicely again. Okay, Mister?"

"_I'm wobbling, my eyes aren't working so good, Bres._"

"_**Your pain is my pain, Sire. It is running through me as well. We are in no shape or attire to fight her at our level.**_"

"_I have to understand her story, because she is what I am, right, Bres? You referring to her want for revenge? How do I ask her to tell me a story when she wants me to die?!_"

"_**It is not my expertise, Sire. Try asking her a question of any sort. I do believe she is about to ask you to die for her again!**_"

"Okay, Mister, will you please die-"

"HOLD ON!" Reiji yelled. "_Question of any sort? What's the first thing that pops into your head, Reiji?! Related to Alice!_" Reiji spoke at the first idea he held. "Uh…eh…who…are…uh…those dolls?"

"Uncle Red and Uncle Black, silly,"

"Uh, I mean…" Reiji stammered. "Why…are…they…uh…your uncles?"

Alice was silent.

Reiji was flustered. "_Well, she isn't asking me to die so I hoped I dodged a bullet with my random question._"

"I died, Mister."

"Eh?"

"I died a long time ago. I was a human girl." She raised Count Red and Baron Black. "Uncle Red and Uncle Black brought me back and adopted me. They did everything I asked and always made me happy. They cared for me, Mister, but one day a big boy came to our place and killed Uncle Red and Uncle Black, he wouldn't die for me either. So, I made these dolls because I miss them so much and I promised to find the brown-haired boy who killed my Uncles and have him die for me. It's what he deserves! For taking them away from me! For taking them away and leaving me all alone! I had no one, but myself! So, I promised to find him and do what he did to them and any demon, angels, or human in my way would die for me!" Alice hugged her Uncles, tears flowing.

"_Those aren't fake. Shit, this kid is just a kid. She just was involved in this because of those Uncles of her and then she was involved in this because Aki felt she could command the demons we had to fight. This is messed up. This kid had her live ahead of here and it was corrupted because of two men and now she's a demon in body and abilities, but a kid at heart._"

"_**Reminiscent, yes, Sire.**_"

"_Not really…_"

"What about you, Mister?" Alice had stopped crying. "Why are you here? Miss Aki said you were here to kill her daddy, like that brown-haired boy did to mine?"

"Heh," Reiji replied, humorlessly rubbing his "X" scar. "I'm not gonna lie, kid….I am here to kill that bastard. You see I got my own reason for it."

"Why, Mister?"

"If I don't tell you, I have to die for you won't I?"

"Uhuh!" She smiled a creepy smile.

"Kandori didn't kill anyone close to me, kid. He ruined my mother's life. He twisted his father's love to a bitter hatred and turned him against the woman he loved. They both used her up and threw her away like thrash with me in her arms. When I was an infant, he dug his will right on my forehead, marking me with a "X" to say I was unwanted. I hated him, I grew up hating him, because…" Reiji swallowed. Had he said this to the others when he explained his past? Should he tell this strange girl named Alice? He opted to tell her. "Because he destroyed my mother's life, I rant on and on how he wronged me, destroyed my life, but I'm making excuse so I don't have to tell the truth. I want to kill that bastard because he and his father made my mother cry all her life. She had to carry a burden no one should carry alone and all I did was make it difficult for her. All I wanted was a way to reach the tower he stood on, just to knock him down. I didn't give a shit what and who blocked my path, I'd tear down the wall, knock off the guard….kill…the decent guy wanted nothing but to save his town..."

Reiji paused, remembering his pact and the others fighting alone above him. He reheard Naoya Todo's and Masao Inaba's words over and over: "Get disgusted or don't, dude, but we have to go back together for now. Cause' we're all after the same thing."

"_Inaba,_"

"Your no longer that Reiji, all this time you've run your mouth saying the same thing over again, throwing aside all other innocent lives for your own objective, not caring what happens to anyone else in the process. You're a selfish man! You're no better than Kandori! You have become the man you wish to kill! You have become Takahisa Kandori!"

"_Kirishima,"_

"You should know I value you as a comrade to help this battle against Kandori. This is as much your fight as it is ours."

"_Four-Eyes,_"

"We're companions, Reiji, I would say we could be friends. I know I cannot talk you out of wanting to kill Kandori, but I want you to be part of this group. I want you to come with us."

"_Punk,_"

"_You are The Devil, Reiji Kido, you are selfish, impulsive, and violent. You are a slave to you own desires, obsessed with vengeance against a man who has wronged you._"

"_Long-nosed bastard,_"

"I offer you this power, become my Knight of Chaos! Become the servant to the King! Close your ears to logic and embrace your inner desires! Love the chaos! Fill your soul with disaster! You'll become my Knight, Reiji Kido!"

"_That winged bastard,_"

"_I am a devil, aren't I Bres? Alice and I are the same, hungry for vengeance with a pile of corpses in our wake. Damn…you were right._"

"So, you're like me, Mister Reiji? You want to kill the guy who made your mommy cry."

"Yeah, originally…now I'm not sure…"

"What do you mean, Mister Reiji?"

"Alice…do you feel lonely? When your Uncles were killed did you feel boxed in by yourself."

"Uhuh, you bet, Mister."

"I did too, you know what I found out recently?"

"What mister? Are you still lonely like me?"

"No, I figured out I did it to myself."

"I don't get it, Mister. Are you almost ready to die for me, now?"

"One last thing Alice…you wanna catch your Uncles' killer, right?"

"YEP! He's gonna pay! He's gonna die!"

"Wouldn't it be better for him to suffer?"

She titled her head. "What, Mister?"

"If you kill him, he won't truly know what he did to your Uncles' right? Wouldn't it be better that he isn't given a instant death, instead has to suffer punishment for the crimes he's committed against you."

"_**I see you've opened your eyes, Sire. I am proud of you.**_"

"Maybe, it depends! Will he have to remember what he did everyday for as long as he lives?"

"Definitely, every single day he'd pay for what he did."

"YAY! I wanna do that! I wanna do that!" She jumped in glee.

"_**Sire, I see where you are going with this**_?"

"_If Sonomura can get that annoying snowman to join her, I'll help Alice out. The kid just needs someone, like-_"

"_**Like you have now, Sire.**_"

"_Yeah, Bres, took them right outta my mouth._" Reiji crouched to Alice's level, her face dumbfounded in excitement. "Alice, I plan on doing that to Kandori, I want him to know my mother's suffering. He'll pay for the crimes he's done, he won't be quickly lifted of his punishment."

"Why do you want it, Mister? You wanted to kill Aki's daddy when you told me your story?"

"I made a decision in my heart, Alice. I realized this Kandori has done the worst he could and gained power to bring about even worse fates to the peoples I care for right now including my mother. I can't let him get away easy for threatening her along with my race. It's my goal to bring Kandori down from his throne and status as a god, not to bring a righteous death to him by annihilating myself and others in the process, but to have justice serve him his righteous tormenting fate to him. Not for what he did to my Mom and me, but what he did to my nakama and my planet."

A shatter of glass was heard in Reiji's mind. "_**Thou art I and I am thou! Thou hast proven thyself worthy of the power of DEATH! Thou hast had a revelation of the heart and demonstrated rebirth and regeneration into a new state after loss and sadness! Thou hast earned his Ultimate DEATH, Mot the God of Death!**_"

"_Wait, WHAT? Death Arcana, Bres you're a Devil? How did, what the, who the, GODDAMN IT, I DON'T KNOW!_"

"_**This is a issue for Igor of The Velvet Room, Sire. You should make the contract with Alice before we combat the revelation.**_"

"_You're right._" Reiji sighed. "Alice, I want you to-"

"I wanna come with you, Mister Reiji!"

"_WHAT?!_"

"_**You have been awestruck numerous times today, Sire**_."

"_Shut up, Bres_." Reiji returned to his normal stance. "What do you mean you want to come with me?"

"You're like me, Mister Reiji! I know you're a Persona User, I wanna be you're Persona!"

"Didn't you want to find your Uncles' killer? Why do want to go with me?"

"_**Was that not intention though, Sire**_."

"_I wasn't thinking it be this simple, Bres. Now, shut up._"

"If I'm with you Mister Reiji, since you're like me, we can play together forever and we don't have to be lonely anymore! You can help me make the killer suffer!"

Reiji face palm. "_What are the odds she wants to come with me because she thinks she'll find the killer_?"

"Also, Mister Reiji, if I'm with you I know you'll care for me." She was blushing.

"HUH? WHAT?"

"_**Another for the tally, Sire.**_"

"_NOT EVEN GONNA-_"

"Alice, what are you saying?"

"You spoke kindly to me, Mister Reiji, Uncle Red and Uncle Black always spoke kindly to me. You told me what to do to there killer for him to die for me forever and it made me smile. Uncle Red and Black always made me smile. If I'm with you as your Persona, we'll always be together and we can help each other bring the bad guys to our justice! You'll be my new uncle, Uncle Reiji!"

Reiji face palmed again. "_Awesome, now I'm an adoptive father. This is not how it turned out in the plan._"

"_**You'll do fine, Sire.**_"

"_It has no meaning to say it anymore._"

"Uncle Reiji! Earth to Uncle Reiji! Will you offer me the pact if you have a Spell Card?"

"Yeah, I got one. How'd Sonomura say it?" Reiji pondered Jack Frost's pact. "I offer you, Alice, to become one of my Personas."

"If you want me to become your Persona, Uncle Reiji you need to make me laugh? It's part of my negotiation."

"_Are you fucking kidding me?!_"

"_**This is demon negotiating, Sire.**_"

Reiji approached Alice, who was awaiting the hysterics with Count Red and Baron Black. "_Good thing I have a few parlor tricks from the old book in my sleeve._"

"Hey, Alice, you have something behind your ear." Reiji cupped the lobe.

"Really?!"

"Yeah and it looks like ten-yen." Reiji amused the girl with his magic trick, showing her the copper ten yen covered in lint from behind her ear. (A/N: Reiji does magic tricks in demon negotiating in the actual game BTW)

Alice laughed. "That's funny, Uncle Reiji. You pulled a coin from my ear."

"_The normal response is amazement, didn't think she'd giggle._"

"Next, for me to become your Persona, the last condition is I need a Hiranya."

"A Hiranya? What's that?"

"A food that cures ailments, duh."

Reiji face palmed for the third time, his sweat dropping. "_I can't win can I. How is it she wants to come with me and I have to whoo her and fetch for her._"

"Sorry, kid, all I got his gum. This'll have to do." Reiji offered her one of the sticks of bubblegum, unwrapping it for her. "Chew it and then get in the card, because this is all I have."

"Let's see…" She hooked Baron Black with her other doll under her right arm to snatch the stick and pop it in her mouth. She chewed rapidly and then blew a bubble in Reiji's face, splattering bits of the substances all across his chin and forehead. "HAHAHA!"

"_Side-splitting entertainment all right!_" Reiji picked the flecks of gum off his face, snarling. "Are you ready yet?"

"Yep, now I accept the pact to be a Persona of Uncle Reiji's!"

A blank blue card emerged from Reiji's sternum and Alice was sucked in, portraying the card's depictions with her curtseying, her dolls bowing besides her. Her card was numbered XII, the Death Arcana Alice was of.

"_**Hey, Uncle Reiji!**_"

Reiji groaned, exhausted. "_Hello, Alice._"

"_**Good evening, Miss Alice.**_"

"_**Oh, hello!**_"

"_**I am Bres, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.**_"

"_Oh, God, now I have two of you talking in my head…goddamn it…_"

"_**You are three-for-three on those as well, Sire.**_"

"_Shut u-_"

"_**Hey, shut up, Bres.**_"

"_You know, I like her already._ _Now, Alice, where are the stairs? I have to hurry._"

"_**Stairs? Sorry, Uncle Reiji, no stairs.**_"

"C_OME ON!_"

"_**No stairs, Uncle Reiji, BUT…there's a hall. That's where I came from. It's right in front of you.**_"

Reiji found the twenty foot tall corridor. "_Oh! I really have to work on my anger if I plan on keeping Kandori alive._"

"_**A lot to manage if you do, Sire.**_"

"Shut up, Bres!"

"_**Yeah, shut up, Bres!**_"

Reiji went to the hall Alice informed him of, a doorframe and door warping in front him. "_WHAT NOW?!_" The door flung open and Reiji's consciousness was drawn inside the portal of darkish blue that lead to the Velvet Room.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"Welcome, Reiji Kido, it has been quite awhile since I've seen one of our guests."

Reiji scratched his neck, the Aria of Souls temporarily hypnotizing him. "What do you want, Long Nose? I've got shit to do!"

"Yes, of course, Reiji Kido, but I feel your soul has exorcised it's Chaos and blackened char." Igor retrieved his deck of cards from the arm of his chair and rested them on the table. "I'd like to read your true Arcana, Reiji Kido."

Reiji stomped. "It's Death, Long Nose! I had one of those stupid revelations the others had."

Igor tapped the deck. "Surely, you must be curious as to why your revelation did not effect your current Persona."

Reiji was curious. "Can you make it fast, Long Nose? I have a hunch those idoits are getting there ass-kicked right about now and I don't even wanna think about Blondie's situation."

"Your aggression is expressed, Reiji Kido. Now let me explain the details. Bres is a Persona given to you by Master Philemon's competitor, he is of the Devil Arcana, inherit to it. You Reiji Kido when given the ability called Persona was following the path of life known as the Devil and aligning yourself with Chaos. Your resolution to yourself was not of the Devil Arcana, you did not react preferably or prominently to the Devil Arcana. This is why Bres has not evolved. Instead of the Devil Arcana, your resolution related to the Death Arcana hence why you were capable of handling the strength of Alice which you hold in you."

"The voice said I have earned my Ultimate Death. How do I use that, Long Nose? If Bres won't change and I have the right to use it, no doubt it's ridiculously powerful like everyone else's, how can I use it?"

"You are lucky, Reiji Kido, you have acquired a Persona of the Death Arcana at such a high level of experience." Igor pulled a cellular phone made of bones and teeth, a radio antenna protruding from a row of lower teeth, from his shirt. "Belladonna and Nameless sing and play the enchantment to prevent violence within the Velvet Room, the Aria of Souls is the Poem of Everyone's Soul, is soothes you and let's your Personas become available for other methods of usage. My role as the proprietor of the Velvet Room is help our guests utilize the Personas they have gain in their travels and journeys and fuse them together to make much stronger facades of protection, Reiji Kido."

"Fusion?!" He gasped. "Taking two of them and putting them together, is that what you're saying?!"

"Yes, Reiji Kido, I can perform fusion to Personas. You revelation has permitted your soul to control your Ultimate Death, I can give you your Ultimate Death without evolution by taking the two Personas you hold now and fusing them together."

"Bres and Alice? You can make my Ultimate Death from them?!"

"The process has begun." The phone was to Igor's pointed ear; the voice on the other side bringing him to the verge of tears. To Reiji surprise, the Persona cards containing a depiction of Bres and Alice shot out of him in sparks and landed behind Igor, the knight and girl fully materializing in the room.

"Holy shit! You did it, Long Nose! Now hurry and fuse em'!"

"Reiji, I will warn you, the Compendium used to store the current status and replication of Persona is not at my disposal to use. That means you can never again bring these Personas to the sea of soul again. You may never be able to retain them again in your journeys forward either. Do you still wish to take the risk and continue? Tell me and I will proceed with the Persona Fusion."

"I'll never be able to see either of them again and there's a slim chance I might not be able to take them back? Are you serious?!"

"_**He is, Sire.**_" Bres commented, Alice pouting.

"Bres, I can't...damn it, here is the first and last time I'll welcome your advice, Bres! Tell me what to do..."

The knight bowed, setting his sword-hand on his thigh. "_**Sire, my advice suited you prior, today you are taller than my advice can reach. I will part ways with you if it means you are to succeed. I want to see you follow this new path of life without me, Sire. It was a honor to be you, Reiji Kido. I am proud of you, myself.**_"

Reiji grimaced. "Thanks, Bres. I'm sorry for being a dick for so long."

"_**It is nothing, myself.**_"

"_**Wait, Uncle Reiji? You can't just get rid of me! You just took me in! You can't kick me out!**_"

"Alice…kid…we did just meet and shared details about myself to you because you and I are alike. I can't promise you we'll see each other again or promise I can take care of you for all of my life, but I can promise I'll remember you for as long as I live. That'll be my punishment, Alice. All right? My punishment for asking you to become part of my selfish desires, to become my Ultimate Death, I'll feel guilt everyday and remember your story for the rest of my life. I promise you that. I'll promise when I bring Kandori down for his punishment, I'll remember you. That way when you on your own again, Alice, and you're looking for the brown-haired boy, you don't have to be lonely any more, because I'll remember you no matter what happens!"

Bres was sobbing. "_**Reiji Kido, you have grown different and remained the same. Sire, Reiji Kido, myself, you are a man of many masks, a man with many emotions, a man of many mannerism, but you are not a Knight of Chaos, you have aligned with Law. I can see it.**_"

"_**Bres, is right, Uncle Reiji. I'll do it for you too, Uncle Reiji! My punishment will be I'll have to remember you too for my eternal lifespan even when I find the brown-haired boy! I promise if you do! It's my punishment for wanting to help you beat Aki's daddy! I'll give you my Die for Me! You'll beat the bad guy! Now promise with me, Uncle Reiji, pinky promise that we'll never feel lonely again!**_"

"Heh," Reiji clasped pinkies with the purple-clad girl. "I promise to always remember you Alice until the end!"

"_**I promise to always remember you too, Uncle Reiji!**_"

"We won't feel lonely ever again." They both said.

Reiji went to Igor, swallowing his regretful thoughts, keeping Alice on his mind. He may have met her in what was fifteen minute, she may had tried to kill him, but they we're identical. They both were wronged because life was unfair and dealt them a hand they couldn't accurately play. In life for Reiji and death for Alice both beings were trapped in a vague fog of companion less and comfortless and the single goal through the fog was the source of their perdition and style of character they put on. In the fifteen minutes they had met, these two connected and exchanged their pain by the forms of words and sentences. The fifteen minutes was enough for the two to understand each other, to see the soul of the other, the intentions of each other, the exposed inner repression of long-last anguish and arrant animosity. "We're ready, Long Nose. Fuse them…please…".

"I will, Reiji Kido, you had changed for the better if I may say. You may retain your rougher charastics but your soul is clearer. Your should be proud as well."

"Do it, please, before I change my mind." Reiji growled. "_Fuck, I can't watch this! I'm a pussy, I'm a high-strung bastard, I'm a damned girl! If Inaba did any of this shit, I'd bust his balls. This isn't me, but the me I was back when all I was was a self-destructing douche bag wasn't me either. I have to find a balance between this Chaos and Law thing. I need to keep my anger in check and my soft side well-distributed or else I'll hate my existence._"

"Done, Bres of the Devil Arcan and Alice of the Death Arcana, have given rise via fusion to Mot, the God of Death, your Ultimate Death Reiji Kido."

Reiji turned around, having looked away from the process. A card depicting a sealed shut Babylonian coffin shifted in midair and into Reiji. "That's it? Mot is mine to use now?"

"Yes, and he's seemed to have inherited Alice's Die for Me! Skill. He is passed her level of experience as well. You shall be able to wield him in however you want, Reiji Kido."

The reward for what he lost was bittersweet. "I'm leaving, Long Nose. I have business to take care of and a girl to remember for the rest of my life!" Reiji kicked in the exiting door that had appeared, leaving the denizens of the strange stage governed by the god Philemon and his assistant Igor.

"Farewell, until we meet again…"

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><p><strong>Persona: Be Your True Mind<strong>

(A/N: Reference to Nocturne because it's awesome. Just a little reference nothing special, it goes with the explanation regarding how copies of the same demon and god can show up everywhere at different times and games and stuff, bull shit excuse roll with it please.

He is indeed a Rumormonger in P2: Innocent Sin, we'll get to that when we get to that.

In order (remember using Google Translator): Sun Dance, Agidyne Solar Rose, Rose Setting Sun

Lastly this Alice is heavily influenced and based on the FIRST Alice that appeared in Shin Megami Tensei, hence the Count Red and Baron Black dolls. Btw the brown-haired boy was the Hero of SMT (goes by many names by many reference books: I'll call him Kazuya) It's not important, the concept of Reiji taking care of her is foreshadowing for P2: Innocent Sin and the relation to the infant in his future that was predicted by Norn was semi-related to him taking Alice with him for that short period. Either way I hope you enjoyed this chapter of Persona: Be Your True Mind and I'll see you next time for Chapter 24: Deva Yuga Part 3: Kandori


	24. Chapter 24: Deva Yuga Part 3: Kandori

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything._

NOTE: This introduction was written literally two years ago before you know the hold indefinite hiatus things.

FIRST THINGS FIRST: I would like to deeply apologize for the five month delay. I honestly cannot give an excuse just simply take my lumps, because I have no really reason as to why I have not worked on this in so long. I was tooling around with writing other stories whilst this was on hiatus, but that did not go according to plan and I just haven't had the motivation exactly to continue this, but several months of rest and I'm rearing to take the long haul of the final seven chapters. I'm gonna persevere and rock the seven out and if all goes according to plan the world will see the Chapter 27-30 by the end of 2013. Now here are the original introductory author notes I had written a long time ago. Enjoy. Well, my moping over the last chapter has subsided and I'm ready to do this chapter which will probably be nearly as long as the last two chapters. Last chapter was 12000 words and the one before that was 11000 and the one before that was 10000 words, rough estimation for each. This is Kandori's climactic boss battle but it is not the end of the story at all. We still have six chapters after this Chapter 27-30 are the final boss and epilogue, the chapters before that are wrapping up the rest of the plot and setting us on the course to the final boss, but are strictly written from the game. I should mention right when I started this fic, I believe it was the second review I had, someone said I was not the first person to do a novelization of this game, I thought what the reviewer was referring to was the actual real-life novelization of Megami Ibunroku Person called Megami Ibunroku Persona Shadow Maze, but I was wrong and in my travels on the site I discovered the original novelization which was only three chapters in and then was stopped, but the kicker is it has a self-insert into the whole story, which if I weigh the changes I've made against the concept of self-inserts, I don't think my filler and shoe-horning was terrible, because once again the bosses I had to work with were difficult. The only ones that we're unchanged we're Takeda, Tesso, Harem Queen was a boss fight but I made it slightly altered because of how the boss fight in the actual game works, Kandori's fight both stages, and the final boss. Take note these are most of the bosses in the game, I only changed two, and added six: the Four Signs, Kohryu, Metatron, Norn, and Alice, though Alice is a real encounter in the game just not story related and most of those were for revelations purposes, like I said shoehorning and filler but I don't think it ruined the story. I didn't make any renditions to the story or the set-up, I just gave each characters a back story and introduced the alignment dogma because the entire game of Megami Ibunroku Persona, SMT: Persona on the PS1 and PSP are HIGHLY related much to the old style of Megaten, First person dungeon crawling, guns and melee weapons, etc. Tamaki Uchida from last chapter is the Female Protagonist of SMT: If…the game that was basically the protoype of Persona and because of this she was put in the game. The reason for the alignment dogma is based on the fact if you want the good ending and not the bad ending, aka progress the story to its true complex, you HAVE TO make good choices throughout the game, you HAVE TO, aka you have to pick choices of right and wrong to denote what pseudo-alignment you wish to follow to define what ending you want: the Chaotic ending that prevents you from getting the conclusion of the story or the Neutral/Lawful ending where you see the entirety of the rest story in bulk and can continue to play after the certain point. So it fits hand and hand, I don't operate under the assumption this novelization is amazing, I operate under the prospect that it is one of the few novelization found on the Internet and that out of the ones here I am the farthest and the most determined to showcase the old school, classic, and creative game to you the users of this site and the Internet. I'm not egoistical, I'm not getting on a soap box or stand, I'm just stating I'm finishing this novelization, it will be completed I guarantee it. With that aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind Chapter Twenty Four.

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><p><em>Chapter Twenty Four: Deva Yuga Part 3 Kandori<em>

Takahisa Kandori was tired. Why? He asked himself. He should be an erudite man, relishing in his victories, savoring the taste of God-ship as he sat on a scarlet cushion in his former office, now his new throne room. Why was he ruefully compacted? Why was he not absorbed in his diluted Elysium known as Deva Yuga? For what reason could the belligerent, cackling demon, entitled as the President of S.E.B.E.C. and God of the current era, not be in complacency? Perhaps it was the hellions, the ambitious, strident brats climbing his tower to defy his ruling that climbed upon his smug exuberance? Maybe even their choking advance, their closing in.

He had lost his fabricated Metatron. He had lost his vengeful Huang Long. He had lost the deceived Alice to Reiji Kido, his churlish brother no less. The twisted stab wound in his abdomen received the addition of a peppering of salt, Metatron had healed them, restored them to perfect states and they were on their way up the stairs, fire in their bellies. He heard the words of the black-haired boy, their de facto leader with the simple earring. The boy mumbled faked words of encouragement at Reiji Kido's unknown fate down the hole which had sealed itself over. He believed, or at least wanted to believe the scarred beastly boy was breathing, potentially injured but breathing. Kandori assumed it was the boy's attunement with the wind via his Persona. He heard the robust, rough, somber breaths escaping the haggard lungs a floor below. The huffing of a chest puffed up with sorrow and depression as he progressed. Few in their enclave protested in moving onward to finish the fight, figuring putting a stop to the source of the issues plaguing Mikage and the world will in sort help Reiji. They were incapable of reaching him. They had no choice but to go on.

"_It's what the bastard-child would have wanted anyway?_" Kandori sighed, he sensed the loss of his creation, Aki reported to him the conversation of the troubling students. His Mirror of Chaos was absent, previously against his calligraphy walls, the stark reflector, his omnipotent tool, was present within the host room for the Deva System. He gazed at the empty charcoal colored tiles composing nearly another average-sized room upon his throne.

"_Its purpose was served. I do not wish to lay eyes on it again. I have no need for such a thing._" He repeated in his mind, silently cursing fidelity. The faithfulness in the earring boy, the faithfulness from _that _Maki Sonomura, but more importantly he cursed his own loyalty. "_He promised me the world, he promised me my dream. I am a God. He delivered. His Mirror, his ideas to use Nicolai to build the Deva System, the most suitable host to bring to birth the necessary components to make me the tallest tower. The highest above those underneath, above those subjects bellow, above the empowered who reign above the subjects. I kneel to no one as I am now. They kneel to me. Where is the satisfaction? The ecstasy is gone._"

The Baoding balls often found twirling in the palm of Kandori's grizzly hand rested motionlessly on the low set table at his seated hip alongside his quenched saber. "_Those damn silver balls, they're insignificant! Useless! What reason do I have to strengthen this goddamn hand?! To wield a weapon of a mortal man?! It's useless! Everything is useless!_"

Kandori's acerbic reaction commanded his clenched sword arm to slam on the oak wood table, frightening the prancing Aki, the darkly dressed child running around the bronze lamps on each side of his throne room. "_And her, her use has worn; now she is irrelevant. I was the sparkling silhouetted father she needed. Exploiting her naivety serves little purpose. Her part is done I might as well cast here back from the pond I fished her._" Aki continued having her fun, blissfully ignoring Kandori's steaming. "_Though she never questions me, she's loyal to me…she isn't real! She's just a damned harvested piece of ps_—"

They burst through the double doors, the eight of them, each eager to put an end to his era of mind-controlled domination. "_The cavalry of humanity has arrived._"

"We finally got you, you bastard!" Masao exclaimed, brandishing his hatchet.

"_He's upset…he must be kicking himself for letting the spawn fall._"

Aki's face scrunched up as Kandori's maintained being lax. "You guys are so aggravating! I won't let you get in my Daddy's way!" Her usual smart tone drove her to point to the ceiling, prepared to use her magic.

Kandori waved his right arm at his flaring "daughter" lazily. "…That's enough, Aki. Stay back." His voice was weak, lacking his famous, prideful bite.

Aki gasped, solemnly speaking to Kandori. "But, Daddy…" Her disappointment showed on her rosy cheeks. Her boiling abhorrence of the band of Persona Users emanate in her twitching smile.

"_She is a pest, a worthless tool now._" Kandori directed his finger at the wall behind him. "Wait in the other room. I'll be with you soon."

"…Okay, Daddy," Aki's bangs shadowed her eyes, vanishing in midair to the unnoticeable addition in Kandori's office.

"_She would not raise a spell to me. She is a delightfully loyal pawn on the chess board, a pawn who cannot be traded in for the other pieces I have lost, a pawn who will lose out against each knight and bishop._"

"Stop causing all this pain! Turn everything back to normal." Maki Sonomura's plea struck Kandori's stony skin.

"_She speaks instantly, booming like a repeating speaker. How is her heart and will made of such thick iron yet still retain the feeble, oblivious cries of unfairness at the world? The incorrigible Ideal version of Maki Sonomura retains similar characteristics in all aspects as the original._"

Kandori exhaled sharply, replying to the demanding shrill. "…Don't worry. I won't do anything further." He started undoing the front of his black silk suit, his listless pupils noting the disorientation his truthful intentions ignited.

Masao Inaba stomped his foot, whitening his knuckles. "What shit are you trying to pull? You gonna beg for your life now?!"

Kei Nanjo retracted his sighted rifle, pursing his lips, his focused brain working the puzzle yet again. The comedic duo Hidehiko Uesugi and Yuka Ayase were even standing down, surprisingly having been paying attention. Eriko Kirishima tugged at her ascot; Maki Sonomura loosened her bow string; and the boy with the earring Naoya Todo pushed his katana back inwards to the scabbard attached horizontally to the back of his waistband.

The man's next remark threw the eight into cogitation. "…What are you living for?"

"Huh!" Ayase and Brown played a quizzical smile. Naoya and Kei wore a demure polish. Yukino, Eriko, and Maki were indifferent. Mark shared the indignant scowl, often worn by Reiji.

"_I'll enlighten them to my thinking...my perspective…my decision…my actions. They'll realize both sides defeat._"

"People aren't strong enough to live without a goal. Everyone wants something. No matter how small the desire…its gives them the strength to carry on. But…if every desire is fulfilled, what's left to strive for? When one's wishes have been granted the only thing that awaits…is a bottomless solitude; an eternal emptiness." The annals of Kandori's thoughts were placated with shattered sentiments. He had carried on becoming what he is, a god higher than all. He fulfilled his desires and was left with himself, his solitude catered by a deceived child, alone in as he said an "eternal emptiness."

He resumed quickly, forgetting his hounding troubles, delivering his therapy, his solution to never be the lonely, hollow shell he had become. "Then wouldn't it be better if one chose to not to ascend the stairs of desire? That way…one's dreams are kept alive."

"_The opposition ponders their thoughts. The king is in check, surrounded by a bombarding line of pawns…how pathetic…how poetic…They can't even speak, the evil man, the antagonizing President, has devolved to apathy, reciting his diatribes he has been skewering himself with for the past hours. Perhaps I should conclude, ask them what is important then…kill them all._"

The diminished Tower waited, wanting to pick the exact words to describe his feelings. "I…kept ascending that stair to destroy this worthless world," Life carried no meaning except for Takahisa Kandori to be the tallest. "…but it no longer matters. Right now…nothing is beyond my grasp." His void pupils, quivering joules, produced a brief laugh at his own dismay. "Hah. The wind of solitude and emptiness blow within me…such is a god's lot." He was no proud tower, or almighty god, merely a withering fool.

"_Maki Sonomura is fidgeting. I truly want to know if this Ideal version bares a similar burden as the original. Speechless again, I don't understand. What I say is the equivalent of a cur whining, whimpering that his mother's breast has been taken away from his mouth…yet…they intake my complaints. The boy with the earring, the one who decided to release me from the DEVA System chamber purely for the sake of Doctor Nicolai, he's a blank sleight and…a wild card. He's brought the unexpected; he refused to falter before the Four Signs. Now is the time to ask._"

"Boy…I allowed you and your friends to come here in order to ask you all this:" Ears perked, heads turned, eyes, narrowed, lips watered, an earring was stroked.

"Why do you cling to life?"

Mark was the first to snap. "How old are you, dumbass? You don't even know that yet?" He was fed up. "We're alive so we can do the best we can, every second of every day. Being sulky all the time isn't good for anyone, man! You gotta look on the sunny side! I live to find Maki; I look on the sunny side to make sure I kick your ass!"

"To fulfill the wishes of myself, my friend, my real father, Yamaoka, to be the number one man in Japan," Kei recited, analyzing his opponent's philosophy.

"Like, to be a better person." Ayase somberly stated.

"To apologize for what I've done…to never be a coward again," Brown shook his sorrow off his brow, shoving his chin up with his trademark grin. "I'm too awesome to give up, baby!"

Yukino sighed, sneering at Brown. "To capture life's beauties…to make sure they can never be corrupted."

Eriko perked up, folding her hands at her waist. "To guard everyone closest to me," She exclaimed. "And for Nao to take me as his wife," She whispered.

Maki continued to fidget, uncomfortable at the topic. Her brimming happiness made her want to explode at the negative proclamation. "I live…" She choked, remembering she was a lone counterfeit, a fake to fit Maki Sonomura's role in Kandori's host's ideal world. "I live…to stop all the deaths and violence, to bring peace…to both worlds!"

"_If Reiji Kido was here, he would tell me his reasoning would be to kill me, to end my offal bloodline._" Kandori sharply exhaled, addressing Naoya. "You, boy…I haven't heard your answer yet."

Naoya was grinning as if invisible feathers were tickling his sides. His answer was readied to be launched again on this journey.

Kandori scowled. "Damn it, boy! What are you living for? Answer me!"

"I live Kandori to find my reason to live. It doesn't matter if life is worthless or sickly sour to you, finding your reason to live, your own personal motivation to carry on especially when you reach the top, achieve your dream, is part of living."

Maki clapped her palms, smiling wide. "That's right, Nao-kun! Our reasons for living…we may never understand them, but we still believe in ourselves! With or without, we're all going to live a life we won't regret!"

Kei wanted to applaud, agreeing wholeheartedly on living life with or without regrets. Yamaoka's death nearly drove him to a catatonic state, left on his knees to perish. He blamed himself; he did not command Yamaoka to return home. He did not ensure his butler's worries were for naught and that he was perfectly fine. Now, thanks to Masao Inaba, he realizes, he cannot die with regrets. He has to live for his and Yamaoka's sake.

Kei shook his head, Kandori's cold expression tearing. "Kandori…just stop this. It's painful seeing you so far out on a limb."

"What…?" Kandori asked. Kei's companion piqued the same.

"Surely you must know. The seat of power you've reached by using people is no divine throne. Deep down you know none of it was your doing."

"You miserable…!" Kandori knocked the Baoding Balls from the table, taking up his scabbard. "_How dare that brat?! How dare he decipher my insecurities! How dare he insult me by saying my accomplishments were not my doing! The eldritch abomination may have given me the tools…I may have deceived Aki to use her powers…I…I…damn it!_" He vibrated with scarlet rage, the Chaos taking his mind, twisting his inner thoughts to make his egotistical gauze on his wounded psyche.

"You're suffering, Kandori." Kei deduced. "You despair at your inability to live any other way."

"STOP," He yelled, clutching his temple. A nefarious voice pounded in his skull. "_**Come on, Guinea Pig. Come on, foolish human. Draw you sword, kill them, destroy all humanity! You're a god now!"**_

"The host must be like you as well Kandori. Their world is toxic, deranged, inhabited by wrathful demons. This is the host ideal representation. They find the world as worthless as you, Kandori, they find mankind as disgusting as you. That is why you chose the host personally, whether they consented or not, deep in their heart you saw the identical nature, the wish to erase mankind, to erase the worthless world. It stems from one's anxiety for the future. You recognized the anxiety, the nihilism. You took the opportunity, you made h—"

"SILENCE!" Kandori's back straightened his slim figure sturdy. "_**The boy discovered who the host is! Clever Guinea Pig! You're going to kill them now, Kandori! It's only fair! You are going to pay me back for the nice gifts I granted you! The plans for the DEVA System, the Mirror of Chaos, the Ideal World, before you end everything your debt is due for what I have done for you! Kill them! Kill Philemon's group of children!"**_

Kei caught himself; the final battle was not the opportune moment to reveal who the host was. "'I want to risk it…but I can't…if only I could disappear,' this is you Kandori. Did you think burdening all mankind with your fears would make them go away?"

The suave demon, drew his saber, let the leathery sheath hit the floor. The bubbling anger opened the door; the Chaos crept over his true mind. His alignment shifted to the peak, scarlet red, boiling hot. "_**Good, Guinea Pig! You let my influence take you! Don't worry, foolish human, you can still control your body, use my skills, but let's consider wavering thoughts collateral. Huh! I can't have you softening up in the middle of the massacre**_** (A/N)!"**

"Why continue rationalizing your neurosis with these grandiose principles? No one knows the foolishness of that than you."

Kandori laughed, Kei's speech meaning to be the final nail in the argument making him howl. "I cannot forgive your offenses against god! I'll cleanse you from this world!" He readied his saber, baring his teeth, a scarlet aura enveloping him, spreading forward.

Mark brought up his weapons. "Heh, looks like you're finally ready to throw down!"

"ARISE ANGELS! SPHERES OF HEAVEN! AVENGE YOUR COMPANIONS!" Kandori's order, released his aura as a wave of utter force, pushing the Persona Users to his office's modified limits. Saintly hymns, graceful harps, magnesium lights summoned to the earthly plane hundreds of YHVH's messengers. Angels and Archangels, the remaining swarms Kandori held control upon. The defiling peasants were to be baptized in holy light and sutras. Kandori's sights, his sword's newly parched tongue, aimed for the one who predicted his shockwave, the one who counterattacked his scarlet summoning aura with his own milky white.

"_**You foolish human, you've caged yourself in here with him! I told you to kill all the Pigs, not the alpha! And you're wasting the resources the duplicated Metatron granted you to clean up the rest!**_**"**

"_I'll kill all nine, including Reiji Kido! My blade shall drink their blood! This boy is first, I'll make him the example! I will show them their inevitable punishment._"

The aura pulsed against his, trying meagerly to block the push. The boy with the earring, Naoya Todo faced Kandori, the Neutral aura mixing into Kandori's scarlet, creating a bisecting barrier, a transparent dome colored red/white preventing entrance for Naoya's frightened allies.

"Nao-kun, he's trapped in there with Kandori!" Maki exclaimed.

"Brave Leader, no!" Eriko cried.

"Goddamn it, Nao, not that barrier again!" Masao cursed.

"It is like when he fought Kido. The protective structure enables them to fight until one of them loses. No interferences." Kei reminded.

"And we're stuck with the mooks who can instant-kill us!" Yukino complained.

"Aw shit! N.T.'s gonna die! He's screwed, man! Game over, man, game o—" Ayase slapped Brown.

"Like, don't say stuff like that you jerk! We can't, like, give up! The world's totally screwed if we do!"

"Ayase's right, guys!" Naoya shouted.

"Huh?!"

Naoya was looking back at his worried friends through the glassy aura. "Don't worry about me! Take care of those angels, I can handle Kandori." His daring words reached his friends, soothed their minds. Naoya was forever a quiet, shy person, as the journey progressed, he changed, grew, became bolder, outspoken, but in his character alteration one thing remained both old and new Nao shared, his promised actions. Unless beset with crippling illness, Naoya willed himself to complete what he was tasked. He discarded his MP5, he refused to kill Kandori. His mind, his alignment, his soul could not kill Kandori. He drew his katana upwards flipping it into the proper grip. He was not afraid, not anymore, his nervous hands at the card slot were gone. He would push it in on his own.

"Let's go, Kandori." He calmly spoke, his friends at war with angels.

"Can you defeat me?" Kandori stepped forward, raising his saber. "You won't get an easy death. Are you prepared for that?"

"I will defeat you, Kandori. Your ambitions are no match for ours! **PERSONA!**" Seimen Kongo awakened, shrieking a human battle cry. He crossed his arms, floating behind his User.

"**Be careful, myself, I can sense his Persona's aura. This will not be an easy victory."**

"It won't be an easy death either, partner!"

"Heh, synchronizing is useless. A low level façade stands no chance at beating an Outer God, no matter if his User acts with him!" Kandori clenched his fist as if he was ending the Baoding balls rotation. The scarlet pigments shined. "DEFEAT MY ENEMIES! **NYARLATHOTEP!"**

The pharaoh of centuries black past materialized. He was "slender", his limbs curved, coarse tendrils stumped as aciculate shape. His torso was the mild length of six feet, matching his appendages. His face was a plated mask, pearly smooth, perfectly oval, devoid of detail. Virulent bat wings, free of membrane, free of healthy skin, angled at seventy-five degrees, minacious, boney, presented the eldritch Outer God as "sinister." He idled behind Kandori in the same fashion as Seimen Tongo, content with his needle-like arms stretched from his sides.

"**Now, he's Super Guido. (A/N)" **The affection-less voice Nyarlathotep possessed taunted.

"He synchronized like we did!" Naoya exclaimed, Seimen Kongo slightly pulling back.

"**His Persona is really the Crawling Chaos?! How can this be?**"

"So, boy, let us see whose ambitions are stronger! **MARAGIDYNE!**" Nyarlathotep stabbed the air with his needles. A wakening storm of fireballs the size of lower classed comets plummeted forward at astounding speeds, converging directly at Naoya Todo.

"SHIT!" The fireballs burst at contact, erupting into a blazing wall. The twelve orbs fed their own thriving flames piling up, Naoya the pit for the hellish element to climb.

"I was hoping the fight last for at least five minutes. I overestimated him."

"**Don't be daft, foolish human! The Pig is well alive!"**

"What?" Kandori posed his toes.

Naoya panted, the familiar warm wall dying in height. The scorching shroud revealed Seimen Kongo's knuckles pouring a greenish eddy as a makeshift shield. "Phew! Damn that was too close!" He wiped sweat, his sleeves singed, and his katana steady.

"How did he…?" Kandori spat.

"A little Garudyne does the trick, especially when it's made of the premium oxygen your fireballs need to stay burning." Naoya explained, cracking his neck.

"**He sucked in the fuel for the Maragidyne. The wall was just the back blow from his gusty shield. Clever brat, HE picked a better king than I.**"

Kandori brushed his own collar. "Interesting, you also can manipulate the constructs of your skills. The shapes you decide to take compared to mine however tell me I will be the victory. Fire is a demonic pleasure, fit to destroy everything. Wind is measly, a natural source which can only ravage the world in a linear path as a cylinder. I turned a barrage to a meteor shower; you made a breeze to a shield. It is clear who dies in this fight, boy!" The President of S.E.B.E.C. clenched his non-dominant hand again, the scarlet streams flashing.

"My name's Naoya and what you said changes nothing!" The young ebony-haired boy prepared himself for his enemy's next attack.

"**Myself…he is right about one thing…I am no match for Nyarlathotep. He is the Crawling Chaos! He is practically invincible!"**

"Relax, partner! We aren't gonna lose! We can't lose! If this Nyarla is as strong as you say, then will hit him with the strongest Skill we have! With one hundred percent of our spiritual and physical power restored thanks to Metatron, he won't see it coming! That's how fast it'll be!" Naoya raised a soot covered arms.

Seimen Kongo swallowed, his User's stubbornness shooting into him. "**Yes, Myself, at the state I am now, as we are currently, if I can unleash a Garudyne in this containment, then I can spin the wind to its maximum in seconds!" **He joined his self with a raised fist, the verdant tint surrounding them.

Kandori's fingers lapsed, his Skill recalled. "What are they deciding to do? What is that stance?"

"**Quit standing around! Kill him, PIG!" **Nyarlathotep ordered.

Kandori moved to close the gulf between them, gasped at the boy's oncoming attack. A spiraling behemoth, grassy green, foggy visible, an indoor tornado magnitude, drove the terrified demon to pale innards. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?"

"A cylinder with a linear path: **TEMPEST!**" Naoya and Seimen Kongo let it fly.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Brown struck an Archangel away with his spear, keeping his back firmly planted up against Ayase who was whipping frantically at the oncoming flyers. "If we keep this up long enough we may be done in a thousand years!" He sarcastically spat, unloading his penultimate TMP clip into an adjacent enemy.

"Like, stop complaining and, like, keep stabbing!" Ayase cracked her whip viciously on the cheek of an approaching adversary. She reluctantly drew her VP70 and pulled the trigger ten times, six of the ten bullets burrowing themselves inside the irritated Archangel's features by pure luck. "Like, and remember Brown, I have better than a kiss for you!" She added a wink to her low seductive voice, regardless to Brown being unable to witness it, he responded.

Brown saluted as an obedient response and proceeded to diminish Ayase's protest for him to "keep stabbing." To please the flirtatious blonde behind him, he lunged heavily with his spear, and caught an Archangel under the breastplate, the blades digging the bare flesh with ease. The Archangel did not repel their physical weapons as the normal Angel did. Instead, the Persona Users' firearms were only able to do distinctive damage when the bullet connected with the head of the divine entities.

The Archangel's scarred bronze face contorted in rage at the human holding his body in place. His brethren swarming on the right corner of the room immediately dove at Hidehiko in a wave of Gladiuses and wretched wings.

Brown's retort was a cocksure grin, swinging his weapon upward, reducing the punctured Archangel to a signaling flag for its friends.

The velvet mist coated Brown and his weapon. In accordance to the arrival of the clear cloak of blue, Brown exclaimed his cry to beckon the facet of his soul. "Go for it! **TYR**!"

The Norse God of Victory launched sky high beyond the pierced Archangel on Brown's spear. The mechanical hand and real hand clutched his battle axe, elevating his arms above his head.

"MAZANDYNE!" Dozens of boulder sized balls of the verdant green energy sparked to life on the tip of the raised axe. They spaced themselves abreast. Tyr dropping his raised arms to slingshot each explosive mass upon the oncoming assault. Each Archangel met a direct hit with each sphere which detonating on contact, reducing them to chunks of feathers and battle-worn flesh.

Freeing himself from Brown's weapon of choice, was the flagpole Archangel. The winged being had flung himself free from the pole-arm, thrusting his sword at the undefended back of Tyr as both he and Brown witness the instantaneous demises of several warriors of heaven.

"Heh!" Brown stuck-out his tongue. "TYR! ARM CHOPPER!"

The blue man dodged to the left, the stab of the Gladius missing entirely, leaving the Archangel suspended in that direction with all his force. With the flutter of his cape, the Persona shot behind the Archangel and clipped both his arms from his torso with two vicious chops of his axe.

Tyr's opponent plummeted slowly as fluids gushed from the severed locations. Tyr raised his weapon up toward the ceiling, green static energy crackling in the sheen of the metal.

"You're not getting away, flyboy!" Brown angled his spear, rotating it to the blunt end. He located himself beneath the falling silhouette of his enemy, aiming his spear's non-weapon end like a pool cue at a vertical angel. He grasped his pole with both palms and jabbed the stomach of the Archangel, halting his arrival to the ground.

"It's been a nice trip," Brown started, sweating building on his brow. "See ya next fall! TYR! ZANDYNE!" With his skinny arms straining, Brown hefted the Archangel back upwards in the air to meet Tyr's sole Zandyne which flew off his axe.

Brown spun around, lowering his shades, and resting his spear on his shoulders. He chucked up a "peace sign", spreading his left leg far from his right. "Check it, baby!" He jested, in his humorous overzealous pose as the remains of the dismember warrior became nothing but a background explosion.

"Brown, stop goofing around!" Yukino exclaimed from across the room.

"Yeah, Brown, like, there's more coming! Now watch this!" Ayase twirled on her heel, letting loose her whip as she did a pirouette. She suddenly stopped, cracking her whip. "Like, **FREYR**!" The bearded, claymore-wielding Persona arose from his summoning mist. In his sights he saw another wave of Archangels mixed with regular Angels.

"SANDASU!" Freyr drew forth his sword, casting the wings of his foes aflame with the snaking streaks and bounding gouts of fire unleashed.

Ayase, bathed in the orange hue projected from the searing flames charring the membranes of such-pristine and such-battered flight aids, cracked her whip again. "AGIDYNE SORAROZU!" Freyr slashed his claymore, dragging all his victims into a vortex of revolving waves of blazing fire. Each of the holy messengers was swept deep, the inferno of the combined gout, the curving streaks funneling them in after branding their touched skin with scorched rose shapes. Eventually the tendrils of fire plunged the lasts ones within the infernal orb, vaporizing them to pinches of ash.

"DAMN!" Brown's jaw hit the floor. "When you learned to do that?"

Ayase rolled her whip, the situation clear, a smug grin on her face. "Like, when my Persona evolved, and I guess…like, when I learned to be a better person…you helped me along in doing that…" The two troublemaker's cheeks flushed, both avoiding the other gaze.

"We should, you know, probably get back to work…" Brown was fidgeting; obviously embarrassed that someone such as him could inspire a girl such as Yuka Ayase to be a better person. He had hoped to change the subject and eventually return to dealing with the never-ending forces of Kandori.

Ayase sighed, rolling her eyes. "Like, fine, I'll spill my guts later. You, like, better not laugh when I do!" She placed a peck on his cheek, steam shooting from his nostrils. "Then, I'll confess something else." She fluttered her eyelashes, speaking in a low tone.

Brown was fired up. "RIGHTO! DEAL! Let's go!"

Ayase nodded, her and Brown returning to their back-to-back stance. The two most immature members of the group of Persona Users had started their journey to save Mikage lacking true intentions as to why. Despite their constant complaints, their distasting of the continuous-fouling situations the nine of them were set in, both awoke with a revelation in their hearts. Hidehiko Uesugi realized if he thought of a person other than his own self he would gain what he had lost, friendship. Yuka Ayase understood her fake persona she put on during her life. She conformed to the personalities of the friends she thought were truly here friends. In the process, in her condescending words and frank insults, she caused harm both intentionally and unintentionally to those who she could really considered her friends. Both had made a new goal in their lives. They had a reason to fight for their world. They had a reason for humanity to survive. They had both become better people inside and out over the course of the journey. They had matured in their hearts and minds, grown enough to know they had to be serious and fight to live their better lives in the world.

Maki raised her hand to the heavens to fight those who hailed from them. "HELP ME! JACK FROST!"

Rolling like a ball, evoked by his mistress, Jack Frost emerged, landing on his booted feet and flashing his "V" symbol with two of his four snowman fingers. "HEE-HO! Mistress Maki-hee!"

"MABUFULA!"

"HEE-HO!" Jack Frost spread his palms at the Archangels flying low to the floor to strike him. A chilling gale of icy wind a barrage of snowballs contained in the blowing winds consumed them, encased them in magically generated ice.

"All yours, Eriko-chan,"

The scarlet-haired girl stood shoulder-to-shoulder with her rival-in-love, leveling her rapier beside her face. "Thank you for grounding them, Maki-chan! COME TO ME! **MICHAEL**!"

The Chief of All Angels became higher on the units of aviations then his ice sculpture inferiors below. He swung his spear outward, Eriko slashing her rapier. "MAZIODYNE!" Righteous bolts of supreme lightning were commanded down at Michael's heed. Each streak of jagged electricity impaled the defenseless Archangel. The course of the electricity surged throughout their trapped forms, superheating their innards to the point of their exteriors gaining boiling temperatures. Following their figures reaching their limits, the ice prisons became puddles of water and clouds of steam as they festered and melted from the inside out.

"Another flock down," Eriko exhaled a breath. "Only an unknown amount to go,"

"They are here now, Eriko-chan!" Maki exclaimed, gazing behind them. She knocked an arrow, aiming at the next gathering of Archangels flying towards them.

Eriko sheathed her rapier, favoring her hunting rifle. She aimed down the scope, preparing her perfect shot right between the eyes of the leading Archangels. Her finger was twitching, a tremor running through her hands. Was she nervous? Was she reluctant to leave the attention of what was behind her? Did she not want to distract her own eyes away from Naoya and Kandori's fight? She had not ever expected Naoya to be locked in a one-on-one battle against surely the greatest foe they have faced in their journey thus far. She had never expected, she would choose to stand beside Maki Sonomura, the Maki of the Ideal World, who still contains unconditionally love for everyone especially Naoya Todo, who Eriko herself held unconditionally passion and care for. Her pettiness had fled her, her shallow nature receded. With the revelation in her heart she foreclosed this imaginary rivalry she had. Now, she only prayed for Naoya's safety. Now, Eriko Kirishima, only hoped they could save the world, so she could express her own feelings. Eriko's hands steadied, reassured in her mind with the intentions of living to see the end of the day to tell Naoya her true feelings. Her competence, in their brave leader arose in her soul. She had faith in Naoya, the man she loved.

Yukino slammed her balled fist against an Archangel's face, the razorblades clenched between her fingers digging a series of deep slashes from forehead to lower lip. The helmet was knocked off his head, Yukino aiming her Ithaca in towards his nose. She pulled the trigger, the buckshot caving in the surprised expression.

Yukino's eye caught the glimpse of the Angel approaching her flank. She punched her previous enemy in the breast yelling, "HA!" The velvet mist consumed her. She twisted her upper half to aim her opened palm at the Angel. "**DURGA!** FREIDYNE!" The multiple armed Persona gathered the yellow-green Frei energy in each of her hands. She fired the familiar cannonade in a wider burst, nuking the lone Angel.

"_Nuclear Missile uses up too much spiritual power, I'll have to save it for the final cluster or the big bad final boss. That is if Kandori does have another one of those giant assholes up his sleeve._"

Yukino reloaded her shotgun, taking her respite. She saw Kei in her peripheral vision. Her thoughts drifted in the moment of rest. She had to keep fighting. She had to make sure to see the beauty of the world again, so she could eventually capture it and share it with whoever she pleased. That was her ambition. She was not allowed to die there, but she would also not allow her friends to die either, especially Kei Nanjo.

Kei ventilated the forehead of an oncoming Angel with his rifle. He pulled the bolt to load his next round. "_Not much ammunition left to use!_" The heir to the Nanjo Group aimed down his scope, subconsciously counting how many rounds he had until he was dry.

"_**I'm sorry, Master Kei; I could not be much of assistance. My Light Skills are not quite effective.**_"

"_There is no need for concern Yamaoka._" Kei dismissed his butler/Persona/good friend's words, punching a new tunnel across the forehead of an Archangel. He loaded his next round.

"_**But, Master Kei, you are the only one who is fighting with your firearm. Both I and your broadsword are useless, how can I not worry when your wellbeing is at stake?!**_"

Kei rolled his eyes. Yamaoka was Yamaoka no matter if he was dead or alive, though he did appreciate Yamaoka doting over him whilst calling him Master instead of Young Master. In the time he'd spent on the journey, Kei had learned Yamaoka even in death was with him always, because they were the same. It was a lesson he learnt. He was not going to allow Kandori to savor his victory however bittersweet the self-proclaimed God thought it was. He was to be the number one in Japan; he was to succeed, to be the new head of the Nanjo Group. He would not let his friend down, especially since he was now his traveling companion resting in the sea of his soul.

"_This rifle, Yamaoka, is all I need. You taught me how to use it well enough…_" Kei pondered the memories, his sight premature on his aim. In his slight distraction, his peripheral vision missed the u-turn in the air of an Archangel who was ready to slice the scarf-wearing boy in half.

"NANJO, WATCH OUT!" Masao's shotgun, loaded with Angel Killer shells, the barrel quickly set to the temple of the messenger of God, unloaded its buckshot, tearing away a large portion of the now-deceased Archangel's face.

Kei witnessed the disintegration of his would-have-been executioner. He saw Masao panting, clutching his scattergun and axe. He had sprinted to Kei's portion of the room. "Guess one got by the both of us…" Mark suggested.

Nanjo's irritated stare was softening. He relaxed, and then his weapon snapped up at Masao. Kei did not think; he pulled the trigger, and killed the Angel about to cast Hamaon upon the yellow hated boy instantly with a perfect headshot.

Masao was surprised at the Kei's impulsive shot to defend him. "Shit…thanks, Nanjo…"

"I suppose far than one has outmatched us." Kei replied, setting up his next round using the bolt-action. "I know you may be adverse to the concept due to previous experiences that ended poorly, but may I suggest we assume a partnership solely to survive considering I am limited to the number of bullets I retain and you to the amount of mental strength you can conserve." Kei offered his hand to his comrade, in hopes to form another partnership, this one ending excluding one or the other being captured and fleeing.

Masao grinned. Kei had changed drastically in his perspective. Simply calling him Masao over monkey was an improvement. The two still did not agree on every matter, but the two had a wider understanding of the other. Masao had hoped they had a mutual friendship especially after all the things they and the others had been through. The two opposite sides of the same coin were not so opposite to one another. They no longer were a simple "heads" and "tails", but Kei was a Hierophant, an arrogant intellectual, who suffered a great lose to his heart and ego, but realized what he lost was inside him. Masao was a Chariot, was bold, blunt, and battle-willing. He fought to find the woman he loved, knew what not to do save his best friend. The two had distinctive revelations, demonstrating characteristics they already had, but were unable to express because of their internal weaknesses. In the present, standing before one another, two men who knew each other far more than prior, they decided to let the past be in the past, to move onward to the make sure there is a future.

Masao shook Kei's hand. "No regrets…" He seriously stated.

"No cowardice…" Kei nodded in understanding.

The two matched half-smiles, gripping their weapons at the swarming of their enemies. They gave each other a sign of assurance before breaking their handshake, spinning to tackle the process of defeating their opponents, exclaiming in unison. "LET'S GO! PERSONA!"

Yamaoka clashed his Bo Staff to Susano-o's weapon to signify their Users own agreement. The elderly Persona tapped his staff to his ribs immediately after "shaking" Susano-o's branched sword. He threw his gloved palm forward at Kei's order. "Step One, Masao, we buff your strength! **YAMAOKA**, TARUKAJA!" Masao was surrounded by a golden aura. Susano-o flexed his pectorals.

"Your speed is next, SUKUKAJA!" Yamaoka tapped his ribs again. A green aura mixed with the gold as it was cast upon Masao. Susano-o flurried his legs at high-speeds.

"Next, use a physical skill!"

Masao brushed under his nose. "LET'S DO IT TO IT! **SUSANO-O**! BRAVE BLADE!" The Persona flung his scarlet-aura coated sword like a boomerang; the branched weapon swirling passed each of the floating Angels and Archangels. The technique tore away their divine auras which protected against physicals blows, allowing the physical nature of the Brave Blade to gravely dig its sharp tendril blades passed bare flesh. The boomerang returned to its wielder hand as the heavy wounds inflicted splashed the marble in ruddy liquid.

"Step Two: buff your magic! MATAKAJA!"

Masao brightened as the white aura enveloped him. Susano-o shut his sockets, raising the branched sword close to his skull. His purple fingers danced up the gold, shrouding it in the gossamer sacred aura.

"Step Three: finish them Masao! Use a magic skill, the strongest version!" Kei adjusted his glasses, smirking proudly at the soon success.

"**SUSANO-O**!"

"END THIS!" The Hierophant and Chariot commanded together.

"GRYDYNE!" Susano-o slashed, calling a ball of gravity of exceeding proportions to fly down like a comet, crashing the Angels and Archangels to the floor. The excessive gravity smashed the winged men and women warriors. The remains of the messengers were indescribable messes, mashes of feather, membrane, bone, and meat. As the weight dissipated the grotesque remains disappeared with the Personas as if they were not disemboweled by the supercharged laws of physics manipulated.

Kei and Masao slammed the sides of the fists together in victory only to have to go up against a new wave.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"_It hit, partner! He's finished!_"

"_**With the density you packed the wind, Myself, Kandori won't be able to stand up!**_"

Takahisa Kandori met his Jack-in-the-box: Naoya Todo's Tempest. It swallowed him, slung shot right off its masters' to him. The funnel circulated him, dragged him to-and-fro. Wind cinderblocks crashed his kneecaps, housing bricks smacked his jaw, steel rods battered his ribs, diamond tons sledged his lumbar, beat his blades, a weighted assortment snared his being, assaulting his entirety. Ever meter met the monstrous mass, ever part pulverized. The indifferent Tempest ravaged its prisoner, compressing, springing up, toying, keeping air pressure as thick as metallic slabs, flattening Kandori. The furious tube repulsed the struggling, the writhing. Prospero's imitation allowed no extrication, no addition, and no disembarrassment. Nyarlathotep aimlessly hovered, embittered at Kandori's predicament. His User, his apparent self fell, following the Tempest catapulting the guinea pig, the forsaken foolish human upwards to the marbled ceiling with a hurricane's thrust. Insensate Kandori dropped prone, the gale cushioning, the Skill's dregs, slowed his descent. The Crawling Chaos's antipathy for humanity curdled further. His King, his King of Chaos was laid-out. His competitor's King, Philemon's boy, was gleefully grinning.

"**ON YOUR FEET, HUMAN,"**

Naoya caught his breath. "He ain't getting up after that homerun, unless he's a huge-ass dragon."

"**We have not won, Myself." **Seimen Kongo broodingly stated.

Naoya's became crestfallen. Kandori's palpitations twitched his joints. He was returning to a stable posture. "He's only human, partner. He should be like Takeda, unconscious, incapacitated! How can a mortal body survive our Tempest?"

Kandori hacked sanguine spittle. "I detect worry, boy." He stated, disgruntled. "Is it because you wasted your last chance?" He shot up, saber pointed. "You're attack could have killed me, boy! The wind needed to be sharp! As sharp as the Japanese steel you wield! If you spun it at a dicing speed akin to a turbine, I'd be a stain, a bloody mist! You missed your only chance, boy, your only chance to kill me!"

He charged, saber clashing against katana. Naoya shoved, Kandori bounced backwards. Seimen Kongo was blindsided by Nyarlathotep's tackle. "A katana finely forged can rend a human head from its shoulders!"

Kandori slashed, Naoya countered. Seimen Kongo met Nyarla's joust with a roaring jab. "You're a coward, boy!"

Kandori slammed down on the cutting edge, pushing on his own blade's blunt side. His taller stature overwhelmed Naoya, who fumbled his steps. "Your heart is filled with kindness, boy! You can't stick your courage in its place to murder me can you?!"

Seimen Kongo planted his left knee under Nyarla's chin, sending him and Kandori back. Naoya kicked forward, shoving Kandori's heaving bearing from his space. "Your life is not mine to take!" He shouted.

"**Myself, I don't believe we can win**." Seimen Kongo returned to his User's posterior, Nyarlathotep likewise.

"Listen to the protection deity, boy! He has your wellbeing in consideration, considering he is you, of course! He knows his containment holds no real power, he cannot modify your body to SURVIVE my onslaught the way I survived yours!" Kandori clenched his fist.

"Add your kind, cowardly heart, boy, and the gravity of the situation becomes worse for you! If you can't kill me, you cannot stop me! Nyarlathotep will drive my godly form until my mind disappears! Maybe if you had the Nanjo brat or the hat-wearing stoner or that churlish spawn with you in this arena, you'd win, boy! They seem likely to want to kill me. That is the lone way Nyarlathotep will vanish, when my consciousness is completely gone!"

"Shit…" Naoya shook. "_What can we do?_"

"_**Attacking him does nothing, Myself. We saw when he was struck with the Tempest, Nyarlathotep was maintained. I suspect the Crawling Chaos is progressively focusing Kandori's mind, pulling his strings to guess. He has control of his physical functions, but his mind is stuck functioning. He is reveling in Chaos Alignment. Our choices, Myself, are limited. We can either kill Kandori,**_"

"_I can't! I won't! I promised Reiji! I promised Maki! I promised myself, damn it!_"

"_**Then, our next option is to defeat Nyarlathotep When the Crawling Chaos subsides, Kandori's true mind can be resurrected. He can be knocked unconscious or reasoned with.**_"

"_What are the odds you can beat him?_" Naoya asked, examining the bleeding puncture hole in his knuckle. Nyarla's punch meeting Seimen Kongo's left a painful injury.

"_**I…we…he…**_" The Persona shook his head. "_**If I was...if all my essence was contained in this Persona, I don't even believe I could defeat the Crawling Chaos. He has near infinite strength.**_"

"_Last options…_"

"_**We lose consciousness purposefully allowing the barrier to fall; this gives the others the ability to fight him all together."**_

"_Of course, losing consciousness on purpose brings to field the possibility of them killing us outright._"

"_**I'm sorry.**_"

"Up, boy, come on! Your friends are almost done with my angels! I want them to see me butcher you!"

Naoya had fallen to his shins without realizing. He scrambled, taking his stance again. "You can try, Kandori, but you aren't gonna win!"

"You keep on echoing the same line!" Kandori arched his sword behind his neck. "IF YOU KEEP ON YELLING IT DOESN'T MEAN IT'LL COME TRUE!" He smashed his saber on the defending Naoya, his bearing figure pressing the earring-wearing boy to the barrier.

Seimen Kongo and Nyarlathotep shot at each other. Whistling wind struck searing fireballs. The two traded punches. The blue ape-man retaliated to the slicing blow with a Spin Kick to his opponent's rips. Nyarla curved his spine at the strike. Seimen Kongo followed up with a Garudyne, an incredible wind blast that did no damage to the Pharaoh of Centuries Black Past, but threw him to the ground. Kandori mimicked the same, the attack at his rips crippling his stroke for Naoya to break away his saber's defensive position and ram him with the brunt of his forearm.

"I won't give up, Kandori! We WILL win! No matter what! We'll find a way to win!" Naoya lunged his own hefty stroke against Kandori's saber. He kept hopping, bounding his katana's thin blade against Kandori's saber. His advances pushed and pushed. Naoya was gaining the ground Kandori had taken with his own pushes. "YOU WON'T BE DYING TODAY!"

"_I can't give up! We came too far, learned too much, did too much to believe there's no other choice then to lie down and die! I'll keep pushing, keep striving, partner! We have to keep going until our muscles give until my mind is dead, just like them! It's the only way to beat them!_"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Masao dropped to the floor. "Man, those damn angels are persistent. How many of their asses did we kick, Nanjo?"

Kei offered his hand to his comrade. "I lost count. Perhaps two scores, there being approximately five scores initially,"

"Scores," Masao asked, not understanding.

"Units of twenty, Masao," Yukino informed, patting his bag.

"Ah, Yukino, I hope you do not require healing." Kei inquired concerned.

"Nah," She coolly replied. "These guys have nothin'."

"Like, shut up! Brown and I totally almost got fried!" Ayase nagged, prancing to the gathering friends.

"Dat Hamaon bites, man!" Brown complained, nursing a sutra imprint.

"You're lucky it missed, dumbass." Yukino scolded.

"Finally, they're gone." Eriko stated, interjecting, abreast to Maki. "We should also count ourselves lucky we had to face Archangel and Angels exclusively. The other spheres would give us real trouble."

"Yeah…" Maki hissed, hurriedly watching her friends and Naoya's fight. "Nao-kun…"

Masao wrapped his arm around her. "Don't worry, Maki. Nao's got this. He's something else from us, ya know."

"Yeah, you're right, Masao-kun." Maki nodded, pumping her fist. "Let's cheer for him!"

"That will have to wait, Sonomura." Kei interrupted, sheathing his broadsword.

"Packs of mooks," Yukino saw the mounds of hundreds crowding the stairway to the office.

"Ah, man!" Brown hit his forehead.

"That's a lot of scores." Mark quipped.

"Like, I'm really tired guys!" Ayase squeaked.

"I'll deal with the demons." Kei said moving to the threshold. "My spiritual power is full. I could not use it to fight. So, now, it's MY MOVE!" He swiped his hand to the side in the face of the slobbering maws, the razor teeth, the inhuman silhouettes. "**YAMAOKA! SAMSARA!**"

Yamaoka rode his futuristic hover board, adjusting his cybernetic wings and shades. He spun his Bo Staff aiming the end at the pack of beasts. He thrust his gloved palm at their hungry mouths. Thousand of sutras, thousand of talisman were birthed from the pool of everlasting light underneath the clawed-toed feet. Yamaoka glided over the horned skulls, mummifying the Hell dwellers at rapid speed. Four large square columns rose from the light, one in each direction: North, South, East, and West. They each were marked with words, the kanji for: Birth, Life, Death, Rebirth, and Reincarnation. The continuous flow, it was the Tibetan concept of samsara. Yamaoka piloted his board around the imperfect circle, the light pore expelling an eradicating ray of utter holy energy. The divine wave spurted up in an ocean of white, vaporizing all evil within the circle, purifying their souls, cleansing their spirits, exorcising their bad energy, wiping the earthly plane of their existence permanently.

"Badass, Nanjo!" Masao complemented. "Always is better the second time round."

"Wow, Kei, why didn't you..." Yukino wondered.

"During our fights up Deva Yuga, the Angels resistance or nullification to Light Skills required me to leave Samsara alone until we fought a group of demons alone. Strange, this instance was much grander than when Norn was destroyed."

"Unfortunately, Kei, it wasn't grand enough." Eriko haphazardly informed. Another wave of demons was coming.

"Damn!" Kei cursed. "I'll hit them again!"

"Sorry, Nanjo," Brown stepped beside the heir. "My turn to show off,"

He raised his spear. "Maki, be a dear and heal me nice when I blackout! LEAVE IT TO ME!" The velvet blue aura encased him. "_Hopes this makes your panties wet, Ayase. This time it isn't on a dragon_!"

"**TYR! BINAL STRIKE!**"

The God of Victory launched himself, splitting the head of a demon in the middle of the new wave. The detonation activated, creating a widespread scale assault of Zan energy. The second wave the same size as the first was dispatched albeit in a much gruesome manner. Kei's Samsara gave an agonizing death, leaving zero trace. Brown's Binal Strike consumed every participant in the stairway hall in a green orb. Brown was struck; he began to spasm as the demon exploded into gibs, chunk of ruddy meat. He painted the marble in blue, yellow, red, green, all the colors of the rainbow. Teeth, talons, scales, fingers, toes, arms, legs, backs, groins, necks, heads, hips, tails, hair, tentacles, noses, weapons, eyes, any features they could remember was a blotch, a impure mess of grotesque proportions on the pure white. Tyr dematerialized, Brown fainting.

"Uesugi, you reckless idiot," Kei vented passed closed lips. "Sonomura, can you heal him, then revive him, the revitalize us?"

"Yep, I have enough left! HELP ME! MASO!"

Maki casted a Mediarama, washing the damage from their clothing, their internal systems, and their skin in a cloak of herb green, sweet scented light. She woke Brown with the golden bullet known as Recarm, soothing his inflicted injuries with a rinse of Diarama.

"Never get used to it." Brown stated, knocking his chest.

Ayase intertwined their hands. Brown blushed. "_AH YEAH! Chicks dig heroic sacrifice!_"

Yukino hit him over the head. "Pay attention, Naoya's fighting for his life."

"The more things change the more they stay the same." Kei added, rubbing his glasses with his scarf to see the ongoing fight. They were incapable of helping, they had to watch. There was no way of interfering.

"It's like when Reiji and Nao fought, right, Nanjo?" Masao aimlessly asked, keeping his arm around Maki to keep her composed.

Kei placed his glass firmly. "Yes, an impenetrable barrier is erected, preventing escape and aid. The physics of the matter I cannot expound. The details are cloudy."

"You think Reiji's all right, Nanjo?" Masao sullenly asked.

"I cannot tell you, Masao. If the hole was still open I would be able to calculate the height. Using the data I could determine if the fall would have been fatal or not. Right now, he's on his own. The best solution is to defeat Kandori…and hope."

"Nao said the same thing. You're both right. Damn," Masao scowled. Naoya's battle shout signaled a grin. His best friend was hounding Kandori, attacking with a large chopping slash. He repeated the motion, indefatigable, hardboiled. "KICK HIS ASS, NAO!" Masao cheered.

"_Don't die Nao-kun, please!_" Maki waved her hands. "GO NAO-KUN!"

"_My love, please be safe! Live!_" Eriko untied her ascot, whirling it as an encouraging sign. "Brave Leader, WIN!"

"_Cheering for victory is childish. Our voices will not affect Todo._" Kei's eyes glistened at Seimen Kongo wrestling with this Nyarlathotep, this Crawling Chaos. He forgot his adult manners. "His left side is weak! HIT HIM THERE!"

"COME ON, N.T.! YOU GOT EM' ON THE ROPES," Brown exclaimed.

"Like, uh, uh, WIN! Uh, and, like, totally DON'T die!" Ayase stammered.

"You can handle this tyrannical creep, Naoya!" Yukino yelled.

"Cute friends, boy," Kandori mocked, swatting Naoya's katana aside.

Seimen Kongo broke his grip from Nyarla's left needle appendage. He connected six fast crosses to his stomach, causing Kandori to wrench forward.

Kandori's slash was canceled. "They're not just cute!" Naoya kicked Kandori slouching breast, putting distance. He readied a stroke, but was blocked with a horizontal cut.

"Yes, they are! They're obnoxious vermin who offer the god pleas and their champion praise!"

"Nope," Naoya slammed in at Kandori. Seimen Kongo bashed his forearms against Nyarlathotep's, leaving the pharaoh open for a brutal attack. The milky white filaments in the arena dome sparkled in luminescence. "They're who I am!" Naoya performed an uppercut with his katana, slashing under his opponent's saber, carrying it to the air. Seimen Kongo nailed Nyarlathotep with a series of a hundred punches, air pressure knuckle dusters stunning the Outer God, but offering no harm. Naoya's cut flung the saber, the wailing, parched sword left thirsty, stuck in the floor after its acrobatic routine with the boy with the simple earring in a prime position to cleave into Kandori, to rob the demon of his cackling head as he stood paralyzed, sword-less.

Naoya hesitated. Kandori was his. Seimen Kongo was matching Nyarlathotep. He would not last much longer. This was his chance, the first option: kill Kandori. He needed to swing. He needed to put his soul in the strike. He needed to decapitate Kandori in one stroke, "rend his head from his shoulder." His way out, the salvation for everyone was before him, he just needed the will. He needed to "stick his courage in its place," repress his "heart of kindness." He needed to kill Takahisa Kandori and he needed to do it now. But…Naoya hesitated…he could not kill Kandori, it was not who he was.

"You're a coward, boy! That's two chances you wasted!" Kandori was quicker than Naoya could react, he grabbed at the boy's back, hanging to his school uniform. Kandori pulled Naoya in close for a hug, burying the vile yoriodoshi knife he hid beneath his belt into Naoya's abdomen.

"**MYSELF!" **Seimen Kongo stopped his barrage.

Naoya choked, the room was fading. Kandori was twisting the knife, dragging it through him. His life's essence was spraying. The cheers of his friends became wallows of sadness, despair. The madman pulled the knife free; his wound was a fountain, flooding his pants in a puddle, red dyed as Naoya died. His katana fell first, the metallic thud echoing in his deafened ears. Then he hit the barrier.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH," Masao banged the obstructing wall. "YOU PIECE OF SHIT!"

"Nao-kun…no…no….no….this can't be…this can't be…NOOOO!"

"Brave Leader…Naoya…

"_Mark, Maki, Eriko…I'm cold…I'm cold…_" Life was leaving him. Feeling was leaving him. He was numb, callous. His life was slipping. He was dying, because he refused to kill Takahisa Kandori.

Kandori obtained his saber yet again. "Boy, you asked for it. You made your own deathbed. Now, I'm going to lob your head off in front of your friends! ENJOY DEATH, NAOYA!"

"_This is how it ends…huh…goddamn it…I'm sorry…everyone…I'm sorry…" _Tears trailing welled in his eyes, Kandori's tarnished blade aiming for the crook of his neck. His unclogged wound regurgitated another ounce, his vision was fading now. Soon, he'd lose consciousness, Seimen Kongo disappears, he'd lose his head, death will take him, and his friends will be left to Kandori. In a vengeful rage, he was sure they'd kill him, positive actually, they would not rationalize his death, and he couldn't rationalize his death. His beliefs, his promises, his own damn stubbornness allowed his death to occur, those were the facts to him.

"_Mom…Dad…I love you…goodbye…_" As he went to shut his eyes to the world, to plug his ears, and berate himself for his stupidity as Kandori's saber sawed his throat, he witnessed golden yellow flutter and crimson red flap.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Naoya fell through space itself, following a featureless yellow butterfly and a featureless red bat, both emitting orbs of their respective coloring. Naoya's surroundings were a distortion of black and blue, disembodied gears and cogs turning and spiraling around him as he traversed the "rabbit's hole."

"Why the hell am I here?"

The distortion evaporated, Naoya a statue for the abyss' blackness. The normal routine would have him land on a platform, but it was different. He was betwixt two identical marble lifts, each having the total six bronze pillars. The insignias, the emblazoned butterfly represented the suited man wearing the mask standing upon it, Philemon the Guide, the other was an engraved bat to accommodate the hovering faceless entity of spikes, Kandori's Persona, Nyarlathotep the Crawling Chaos.

"Welcome, my friend." Philemon bowed.

"Welcome, it's a pleasure to meet you, boy!" Nyarlathotep greeted, ecstatic.

"Okay, what the hell? I think we're way off script here." Naoya carped, suspended between two gods holding a wager.

"Oh no, boy, you're here to make a decision!"

"A very important decision," Philemon added, his serious expression cloaked by his mask.

"What kind of decision?" Naoya was frantic. "Am I dead or not?!"

"Unfortunately…"

Nyarla sped up his competitor. "My King's soon to kill you, boy!"

"Then why the hell am I here with the two of you? You're obviously Philemon's competitor; Seimen Kongo was able to tell that from feeling your aura! You a deity with all his power operating as a Persona, according to the information Ayase gave us from Kandori's Metatron that shouldn't be possible."

"Fate picked a brilliant lad for you, Philemon." Nyarlathotep stated. "He's intuitive, demonstrates charisma, ingenuity, had the mortal balls to lead a band of pigs to my end of the board. If he wasn't spineless, you would have won our game."

Philemon folded his arms.

"Philemon, what the hell is happening? This is ridiculous. If I'm dying in the real world why'd you bring me to the realm between consciousness and unconsciousness?"

"Easy, boy, to make a deal,"

"Yes, the Crawling Chaos is correct, Naoya, he has a contract to present to you, I am only here to make sure the deal is fair."

"Don't you trust me, Guiding Monarch?"

Philemon said nothing.

"You want to make me a deal? Why?"

"You are a greater King than Takahisa Kandori. I was unnerved to discover, Philemon hadn't manipulated your mind to accomplish such major tasks I have described."

Naoya glared at both. "_He can possess our thoughts like Seimen Kongo said Nyarla did to Kandori? Interesting…_"

"He likes to say he's above dirty tactics along the lines of mental control, but the fact is he is unable to interfere with his pieces as per the rules of the wager. I however am free to pull as many strings as my reach permits!"

"That's seems an unfair bet." Naoya said, recalling the rules Philemon had put forward regarding his rival competition with his competitor.

"I think its sporting that the piously righteous have to fight with their hands tied! Plus, one-sided bets are boring, aren't they, boy!"

Naoya's senses drain. "I said that to Mark two days ago when this mess first started…How did you?"

"As my adversary and beloved friend may have told you, he can see the strings of events, he can see all, and I'm the same, omniscient when I concentrate. Since I was busy maneuvering my King through my intricate plan I paid you no attention, but as you trickled down like moss clinging to a cave, I glimpsed your past, your journey from playing Persona to Deva Yuga. Now, I'm impressed and I want you to resign your contract with Philemon and form a new one with me! I want you to be my King in Kandori's stead!"

"Why? What are you putting up as compensation? I may not agree with Philemon's bullshit method of leaving out vital information to rope humans into helping him, but I ain't resigning with him for someone who wants my kind dead!"

"Heh," Nyarla contorted. "Let me play for you Philemon's endeavors, how futile righteous Lawful actions are! Just know if you align yourself in Chaos, join me, these times, these instances, you'll be exempt, you won't experience them. I'll heal your wound, see you live again. Now, watch humanity's drunken escapades orchestrated by my competitor! Watch the way humanity's finite existence ends threefold!"

Before Naoya's blurred vision, the abyss betwixt the consciousness and unconsciousness, opened three rifts. Portals hovering similarly to erected mirrors. But they did not reflect the ebony haired Persona User, or the Guiding Butterfly, or the Pharaoh of Centuries Black Past, instead they displayed an array of images. Lattices opening in the sundered holes conjured via pointed limbs. They acted as muted television flickering, adjusting them, and tuning the dial to their respectively correct channels. What channels exactly broadcasting Naoya was oblivious, until the leftmost screen settled its picture: a scene of desolation bathed in gold chrome and electric magenta. An individual with fiery red hair lay collapsed; abreast to him was a girl slightly older with inky-black hair. Hers lightly faded as a heavy contrast to the bold crimson atop her male companion. The middle screen played moments later, leaving Naoya merely seconds to comprehend the scene of the defeated warriors. His attention apparently was not required for the middle screen shot him with the familiar eerie showcase. A tower, a descending moon, commanding a unlimited gravitational weight submitted an enclave of warriors adorned with matching armbands. The moon, gazing a piercing iris of sanguine contempt, forced them to bow especially a blue haired boy with headphones draped across his shoulders upon his labels. His struggling was futile, death was upon them, their existed no escape. Naoya tried to look far away, into the abyss itself to avoid witness their utter demise, then the final screen, to the right, found its target, magnetizing his head to the last event Nyarlathotep desired to show him to persuade his mind. A clip show sped through to start. Naoya saw the decaying, oxidized skeletal hands soaring from beneath standing feet, digging demonic nails into the individuals who knocked over the intended victim to save his life. The silver-haired boy's glinted glasses reflected each of his allies sacrifice, the villain's claws trenching through them, pulling downward to a tunnel, a rusted, corrupt void to torturous hell and he was soon to be next. The portal froze; freeze framed at the defeat plastered in the future, the losses, the victorious conquests of the sides of evil, representing zero hope, offering nothing but total despair.

Naoya's bangs shadowed his countenance, the forelock hiding his mimicking frown filled with anguish.

"See boy, it's hopeless! What you're doing now doesn't matter! I will reign victorious. Foolish humanity will cease to exist! The world will be destroyed! Be my new King, boy! Cross over and align yourself with Chaos and I promise you'll live, I'll grant you immortality, eternal longevity, you'll rule as my right hand forever in glory of the vast and beautiful massacre and destruction!"

"You forget the extended portion of my role, my competitor! Once the information is known, I can uncover the reality, the true events!"

Philemon's interruption warped the future rifts. They became colored in aqua blue. They resumed, like Philemon had simply pressed play on the remote where Nyarlathotep paused. The reels in time continued for Naoya Todo. The male and female duo rose to knees, the golden gloss and marvelous magenta bother each naught. The red-haired student, dressed in a uniform Naoya could not recognize, hefting his to handed sword at his side, facing his unknown opponent despite the odds. The girl, a young woman Naoya could now discern, cocked her two pink pistols, perfect matches for her heart adorned outfit. She pointed her guns at the unknown. Its whoop ass time! The second screen the ten thousand ton gravity bearing down on them group now unaffected the blue haired boy, and only him. To his friends chagrin, he levitated upwards, lacking any weight himself. He starred boldly, audacious at his opposing enemy. He shall seal it, thanks to the universe. The glasses-boy proudly rose, breaking free of his skeletal shackles. He drudged out of the adhesive morass to hell. He heard his friends chide and cheer. He removed his glasses, granting his enemy his real obligation. He threw them aside, for he no longer needed them. He could see the truth by his own power, and now it's was time to reach out and touch it!

Hope, Naoya smiled like a child. Even in the face of despair, these people kept fighting. Fear did not dissuade them. Hope brought them to their feet, to beat back the chaos.

"Those who are destined in the string of events to fight back against the unknown won't die! They'll fight to the end to save and protect what they care about! Naoya, my friend, I promise if you go and align yourself with Chaos, your being will be abolished, obliterated in a moment! If you align yourself with Law, I can grant you my abilities, the fullest extent of my powers to stopping humanity's destruction!"

The portals closed, Nyarlathotep flustered at Philemon's antics. Naoya left, static in midair, his consciousness severed from his body to be killed. "_Options…choices, huh? This entire journey has been a difficult decision after a difficult decision. Quandry leads to caprice. What are my answers? The red pill...or the blue pill, its loaded, designed for me to either present my mind as selfish or selfless. If I choose to side with chaos…I don't die…but I'm sure…those in those prescient scenes…overcome by defeat…despair licking at their souls…I'm certain, they'll die. However, if I choose to side with law…I die…and they live, the people in the future filled with hope live to fight on…as well as my friends. If I side with law, Mark, Maki, Eriko, and the others…they live too. Altruism or egoism, unfair options for an unfair world,_"

Naoya grinned mirthlessly, wishing Seimen Kongo was there just to comfort him in his decision. "I'm sorry," The competitive deities listened intently at the despondent Naoya. Is his answer hedonistic or objective? "I'm sick of this counterfeit world; everything is so goddamn black and white. It pisses me off." Naoya scowled, bitterly sighing.

Nyarla chuckled. "Rather out of character, aren't you boy?"

"SHUT UP!" Naoya snapped. "You smug bastard…you think you've won, right? You think asking me to go to your side makes you the winner of this game?"

Nyarla nodded at his clever plan. "Yes, boy, if you die, I win the game, if you join me, I win the game. Either way victory over the ineffectual Monarch and his plagues of guinea pigs is mine. I am invincible!"

"Like I said, I'm sorry," Naoya gave a half-smiled to the Philemon, whose posture suggested nervousness. "As my best friend Mark would say, since you know us so well, 'you can take your offer and blow it out your ass!'"

Philemon chortled, Nyarla irate. "WHAT, BOY?"

"I'm not siding with you."

"YOU'D RATHER SIDE WITH HIM?" Nyarlathotep accusingly pointed at his competitor.

Naoya shook his head in disagreement. "No, I'll help Philemon beat you for my own reasons. My own personal purpose, not because it's the right thing to do for me, because it's the right thing to do for everyone! Forget chaos and forget law, I choose the middle, Nyarlathotep! I chose the NEUTRAL!"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

The time resumed, the gods pressing play on life remote this instance. Naoya clutched his wound; blood slipping passed his clenched fingers. His eyes were wide open, his smile still stretching his cheeks. "_My beliefs landed me here and I have no regrets. Goodbye, everyone, live on and…WIN!_"

Kandori's saber waved through the air, aiming to decapitate. The quaking, thirsty weapon reached its marked spot, having flown high up to the ceiling of Kandori's office alongside its owner! A discharge of the marble flooring launched beneath him, battering him as he flew backwards. The propulsion was caused by a rustic coffin of baboylian orange, standing twelve feet in height, possessing an ominous aura attached to the ceramic containment. A beastly boy, an 'X" scar across his face, who steps causes the chain dangling from his choke to clang, stood behind the coffin that bore through the stone floor.

"Reiji," The distraught Persona Users ejaculated.

It was Reiji Kido, his Ultimate Death, the coffin imprinted with an effigy imitation to the eye of Osiris who had saved Naoya Todo at the last second. Takahisa Kandori's churlish brother had seamlessly turned all hope to despair.

"This won't kill you Kandori, but it will hurt like hell!" Reiji threw an uppercut at his brother, a sprawl of limbs at the back wall, thinking of the little girl who gave him a very special gift. "**MOT!"** The coffin opened, releasing choking smog, the fetid odor of death as hanging deliverance. Pupil-less whites glared, cutting through the darkness hiding its true form within its confines. A ghoulish talon, sharpen picks thrust forth at its master order. "**DIE FOR ME!**" The devilish phalanges juxtaposed to the myriad shower of card soldiers spearing Kandori, ravaging him benignly enough to incapacitate, but not to kill.

Reiji took a knee to the stabbed Naoya. He fished the pills out of his pocket, popping the cap, taking the pale and clammy boy's chin. "Come on, punk, you aren't dying today!" He shoveled the remainder of the bottle in his leader's throat massaging them down to magically stitch the fatal wound.

"Reiji…" Naoya choked as he swallowed the final pills, the seeping stopping as he felt them sizzling in his stomach acid. "_Despair turnabout to hope…maybe the world is fair sometimes._"

Mot disappeared with Reiji's raging velvet blue aura, Kandori's tattered suit and berated form laxly lying against the wall, sneering, snarling, and gritting his teeth.

"Thank you…" Naoya whispered as the reformed younger brother pulled his weak body to his feet. "I see…you had a revelation of the heart."

Reiji tighten his grip in excitement, supporting Naoya. "Yep, needed it to save your ass, punk; you're lucky I fell to the just right level. Probably should thank that bastard for getting off on hearing himself talk shit than anything else."

"_And screaming loud_," Naoya added, picking up his MP5 easily.

"NAO-KUN," The shivering hug from behind caught Naoya.

"BRAVE LEADER," The iron-tight bear hug trapped him.

Eriko and Maki had wrenched him, their tears wetting his shirt completely. "You two…how did?" It was then Naoya finally noticed the scarlet red/milky white barrier had dropped, allowing the concerned stampede of his friends to surround them.

Maki and Eriko had run and snared him. Brown and Ayase were aloof, breathing sighs of relief. Yukino rubbed her tight forehead, sighing at the consolation. Naoya was safe; she was no longer powerless to aid the situation. Kei was not one toe hug, but as he leisurely swatted the sweat drops he accepted Masao's pat on the back, contently happy Todo, the leader of their ragtag band of misfits, did not die.

Masao gave his best bud thumps ups, who was unable to move thanks to the glomping girls. "_Don't scare me like that again, dude._" He turned to Reiji next.

The too high-fived, "I owe you twice over, man. Once for me and another for Nao,"

The scarred boy replied. "Let's call it one, Inaba. Saving YOUR ass helped ME than it helped you."

"So…you finally killed him?" Masao curiously asked, Kandori unmoving on the other side of the office.

Reiji grimaced. "That shits in the past, Inaba." The boy directed his gloveless finger to his brother. "I pounded him to nothin', he's dreaming he has a chance to annihilate humanity."

Naoya smiled, Maki and Eriko freeing him. "I'm glad I can see you two again." He said, matter of factly, his strength regained.

Maki fixed her ribbon. "Thank God, Nao-kun," She sobbed. "You're alive…you're really alive."

Naoya tucked his firearm and sword, swiveling around to see his gaggle of friends.

Eriko closest to him, squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. "We did it, Brave Leader. We stopped the antagonist's apocalyptic scheme!" She shouted in glee.

"We did it, Eriko, its over." Naoya pumped his fists, wanting to exclaim in celebration until his gaiety was racked with trepidation.

"NGH," The demon's groan, the hole-filled suit falling by his sides. He stood, yet collapsed again, standing again except using his wobbling knees. "I refuse to accept this! I'm supposed to have transcended man!"

Everyone gasped, Kandori was momentarily unconscious. Nyarlathotep had un-cuffed his thoughts. The demon in epidermis remained immaturely miffed.

"This guy's not done yet?" Masao cursed, readying his hatchet.

Reiji put up his fists. "He's done; a whistle'll lay him flat!"

"I'm inclining to agree with Kido, Todo." Kei informed.

"Brave Leader," Eriko asked at Naoya's pause.

"Everyone, be ready. He may have gotten a second wind." Naoya nearly smelt it in the wind, the faint traces of vile pandemonium.

"WHO AM I?! I am TAKAHISA KANDORI! The man who TRANSCENDED HUMANITY! I AM THE HIGHEST TOWER!" He howled a groan of excruciating agony, his nicks and compacts crunching him in the diminution's jaws.

"WHAT?" The man jerked at the teenagers, his body contorted, his flesh pulsating. "What the…? Something's forcing itself into me!" The bulbous shapes his skin formulated as it undulating, traversing his figure like a rat trailing a carpet's underside. Kandori had hundreds of rats under his carpet; they bulged, and pushed at his clothing, inflating his inflicted damages, bending his limbs like a marionette. He no longer controlled his motor function.

Kandori pulled at his groomed do, violently vibrating as the parasitic invader grubbed his innards. His contorted flesh was malleable rubber, pulling and tugging, wanting to peel off the skull. His clacking teeth gnashed, his throat projecting another's laugh. "Hohohoh…Foolish man, Takahisa Kandori, who has gone stray…"

Naoya recalled the proposing deity's tone. "Nyarlathotep,"

Eriko lost breathe. "Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos, the faceless god, a bizarre and evil entity known by countless names…it embodies malice." She recited, startled.

"I shall give you the power you desire." The voice Naoya indentified as Nyarlathotep told his host, his King reduced to pawn status.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO," The unwilling Kandori screamed in his real voice using his own vocal cords. The leeches tore him asunder. A chaos-bottled scarlet aura packaging him, clouding his transmogrification to the god he wanted to be.

A curt transformation of a oblong head, bronzed, featureless, eyes, nose, lips, mouth, ear, the size of conjoined boulders with a bundle of metallic hair. A gallant halo encircling the head, protecting the host, Takahisa Kandori, minus shirt and jacket, merged completely at waist level to the decorated head. A dejected demeanor as two hands rose, levitating as the head, as large as the structure. The gigantic finger forming specific signs, created of the same material as the disembodied head. The demon in human skin had become a crown for his godly presence. A host for a self-propelled armor.

"What the," Maki exclaimed appalled.

"Holy shit," Masao and Reiji cursed simultaneously.

"Has his body and soul been dominated by his Persona?" Kei proposed.

"Before Nyarlathotep had controlled his thoughts to keep him entranced in the Chaos Alignment, this time he must have taken control of his body and mind, turning him into…into this." Naoya answered.

"What the fuck?" Was all Yukino could say.

"Jesus, is he even Kandori, N.T.?" Brown nonchalantly asked, amazed at the weirdness transpired.

"Yeah, like, he turned to an avant garde statue?" Ayase asked curiously, surprising the others she knew the word avant garde.

"I am Kandori…" The naked upper portion of Takahisa Kandori introduced, effortlessly in his original voice. He sounded fatigued, empty at the satisfaction again. "God Kandori…" He stated, a hollow component for his puppet master's weaponized construct previous his earthly shell. He was empty, his dreams unpreserved, and he finally was palmed a god's veritable lot.

"Get ready, guys! Let's go!" Naoya ordered.

Yukino punched in God Kandori's general direction. "God or not, I'm nuking your ass! **PERSONA!**" Durga materialized, her hands gathering the Frei energy, charging and converging the streams above the garish bust. "**NUCLEAR MISSILE," **The created nuclear warhead ruptured on the extended forehead, eradiated the pretentios artistic exihibit in pea green wash of a Frei energy mushroom cloud.

"I saved up to wipe a big bad. Paid in spades," Yukino quipped.

The smoke disrupted as God Kandori rushed like a derailed locomotive.

Eriko quickly stepped in his path. "Nyarlathotep, prepare to face the wrath of heaven! **PERSONA!" **She held her rapier to her cheek. "**HEAVEN'S JUDGEMENT!**" Michael's voltage charged to max as his spear rocketed, aiming at the lavish nose. A hand shielded the sparking pole, the railgun-esque shot impaling the make-shift shield, unfortunately the intense electricity was discharged halting the atomized disintegration.

"No!" Eriko tugged her ascot.

Masao slammed his kicks. "Here's mine Kandori! **PERSONA!**" Masao raised his axe. "**BRAVE BLADE!**" The aura purging boomerang branched sword flew like Michael's spear, shining brilliantly, preparing to gouge a unibrow. The other hand caught the Brave Blade in between two fingers as easily as a fly with chopsticks.

"Dodge this! KAMIKAZE! **PERSONA!**" Brown lunged his spear upward. "**BINAL STRIKE!**"

"Like, burn please! **PERSONA!" **Ayase lashed her whip. "**SETTINGU SANROZU!**"

Freyr mounted his bejeweled claymore to the floor, casting a tidal wave of liquid hot lava, searing rose shape emblazonments in the gilded leafing. Tyr appeared beyond the lava whirlpool, able to smack his axe to the protruded lower lip. The explosion consumed both for God Kandori's hands were halting the skills of Eriko and Masao.

Brown collapsed for the second usage of Binal Strike that day, confident his attack destroyed Kandori.

Susano-o, Michael, and Freyr vanished, their Users admiring the brown smokescreen. It was swept away, pushed by the winds caused by a metallic clap like thunder of the two hands, their curled fingers maintaining the calming symbols of purification and meditation.

"It's no use he can withstand all of our attacks! **RECARM!**" Maso revived Brown with the bullet.

The boy slid his sunglasses up, Ayase yanking him. "Damn, we need less tank a lot of d.p.s."

Yukino smacked him, harshly due to it might be the last. "How can you joke when we're fighting a god?"

"He is not a god, Yukino." Kei corrected. "We have dealt with such imposters prior to Deva Yuga."

"The Moirae Sisters," Maki recalled.

"Metatron," Ayase arrogantly reminded.

"Kohryu," Yukino remembered shallowly.

"The Four Signs included." Kei added, adjusting his hankerchief, scoffing at the raised rocks leisurely move centimeters to the party.

"Means, Kandori ain't invincible!" Reiji yelled.

"We can stomp him then, right, Nao?" Masao asked, raring for round two.

Naoya drew his katana backhanded, flipping it to its proper position. "We will stomp him, since Seiryu, Suzaku, and Kohryu's finishers nicked the paint, let's take Brown's suggestion. Let's use the Genbu strategy!"

Masao, Brown, Kei, and Reiji stepped to a line. "We attack in separate groups." Masao said, ready to go.

"Indeed, we use physicals, the ladies elemental skills." Kei accepted.

"I get it, punk." Reiji cracked his knuckles. "Single attacks are useless. We'll stack them together to break his stupid fuckin' mouth!"

"Ah yeah, I'm in the combo this time!" Brown hopped on his heels. "My Tyr is gonna show you guys how awesome I am!"

"ERIKO," Naoya signaled.

Eriko slashed her rapier. "**MICHAEL! **DEBILITATE!" The spectrum of colors dazzled the godly statue parts, dulling the composite value, tarnishing the polished.

"He's all yours, my love!" Eriko exclaimed.

"Mark, Kei, Brown, Reiji, aim at the center!" Naoya covered his face with his hand.

Masao swung his axe up high.

Kei swiped his hand to the side.

Brown raised his spear.

Reiji threw an uppercut in the air.

"HERE IT GOES!"

"LET'S GET FUNKY!"

"LEAVE IT TO ME!"

"HELL YEAH!"

"SEIMEN KONGO!" The blue man let loose a human battle cry as he emerged forth the milky white aura.

"SUSANO-O!" The muscular swordsman struck a definite stance.

"YAMAOKA!" The old butler steadied his hover board, rotating his bo staff.

"TYR!" The mechanical armed, caped hero pulled his axe back.

"MOT!" The god of death loaded in the coffin like a prime flare, swayed his attacking arm.

"Attack all at once!" They all yelled. "SPIN KICK! VORPAL BLADE! DEADLY FIST! ARM CHOPPER! DEATH'S COLD GRASP!"

They each dived towards the god's taut shut mouth. Seimen Kongo planted his bone shattering kick at the same instance Yamaoka delivered a jet propelled majestic punch with Susano-o additional barrage of swift strokes and Tyr's double oak penetrating chops accompanying Mot's darkness-coated, jousting claws intending to snatch an available soul to consume. All five attacks: Leg, fist, sword, axe, and talon crossed at the exact point, striking Kandori an ultimate blow.

"**ALMIGHTY PHYSICAL ASSAULT!"**

The girls did not hesitate to follow the boys attack.

Eriko readied her rapier by the side of her head. "COME, MICHAEL!"

Maki threw her hand in the air. "HELP ME, MASO!"

Ayase lazily cracked her whip. "LIKE, FREYR!"

Yukino punched the air harshly. "HA! DURGA!"

The Archangel, the priestess, the elderly man, and the Shakti materialized to form a square. "ZIODYNE! BUFULA! AGIDYNE! FREIDYNE!" Michael spread his wings sending a lighting bolt to immediately strike the smokestack. The electric current conducted in the metal, briefly glowing passed the covering. Freyr slung a giant fireball to bake the supercharged substance. Maso's praying cast a blizzard, blowing hard into the boiling hot bust to carve the path for Durga's supreme energy burst which consumed God Kandori entirely.

"**ALMIGHTY ELEMENTAL ASSAULT!**"

The Persona Users had unloaded their trumps. Their hopes dialed to the highest to deflate the highest tower. The avant garde disembodied figurine startled their composure. Its eyes rolled back, its teeth opened, a deranged noise, a sound incomprehensible, a deafening shout, a groggy roar, a undeniable shriek as unnerving as nail dragging on a chalkboard, as grotesque as branding flash, as disturbing as the circle of hells devouring the cadavers of the dead, as the demons laugh at the plight humanity suffers, as the despairing torment flushed the flesh in molten heat, inescapable pain, twisting and wincing in agony, no control, no prevention, a distorted paean, a marching band from hell, a cacophony of perplex sounds shuddering the eardrums, hammering the brain until it becomes a watery mess to leak at the orifices. The God's permeating voice flatten his opponents, an extended jetty of echoed sound colliding to stable mentality, a mobius strip, the ring reverberated, spinning, whistling, ripping, tossing, turning, weaving, bobbing, and cackling inside the ivory confines of the human anatomy.

Naoya fumbled his legs, tears dripping at the ducts, an uncontrollable tremor shaking his core and nullifying his concentration. "_PLEASE! MAKE IT STOP!_" The screams burned, the resounding gingerly splitting his skull like an egg and viciously whisky out the yoke of his sanity.

"WE…can't…AH!" His encouraging words crushed. "_Give…up…_"

The flashes of the others, those in the future string of events he witnessed, broke the shuddering sound. "I can't…give up yet…" Naoya rose without respite for the abusive noise, a raging white encompassing him, expanding beyond his control to his companions.

Their leader stood, in the face of adversity, the genuine face of despair. He was not the first, nor was he the last to continue when others had fallen, but braving the browbeating intimidation, resolute at the fighting sound, turned despair to hope again that day. Masao drew up his hatchet weakly, carrying Maki to Naoya's side with him. Ayase and Brown held each other's hands, positioned as if in a duet, dancing to their leader to sedate the pain. Kei and Yukino's locked eyes ignited their resolve. They waltz to their company, their dreams on their minds, the reality receded the awful sound. The velvet blue in their souls awakened, expanding Naoya's white aura to the limits of Takahisa Kandori's forsaken office. The nine of them, the nine students of St. Hermelin, Philemon's chess pieces, the human races final hope, were going to end the chaos.

"**RESONANCE!"**

Kei Nanjo envisioned Yamaoka's face looking down him as he headed the Nanjo Group. "MY MOVE! HAMAON!"

Reiji Kido saw his mother, her suffering repaid with his bastard brother trapped in a cage. "HELL YEAH! MUDOON!"

Yukino Mayuzumi saw Mikage through her telescopic lens, prepared to capture it in a snapshot. "HA! FREIDYNE!"

Hidehiko Uesugi heard his former friend passed the plastic receiver, he simply stated he was sorry. "LEAVE IT TO ME! ZANDYNE!"

Yuka Ayase sat in the cafeteria, surrounded by Yuko, Kenta, Tadashi, and Tamaki. "LIKE, HERE! AGIDYNE!"

Eriko held hands with Naoya, he twirled her and swooned her. "COME! ZIODYNE!"

Masao was holding Maki Sonomura, confessing his feelings. "LET'S DO IT TO IT! GRYDYNE!"

Maki was in class, Naoya, the real Naoya was standing there. They both smiled. "HELP ME! BUFULA!"

Naoya's vision was clear. He saw the rise of the defeated, his friends waiting for him at Peace Diner on Joy Street. "HERE IT GOES! GARUDYNE!"

"**COMBINED SKILL: MEGIDOLEAN!"**

That day in Deva Yuga, a man who transcended humanity became a god. That day in Deva Yuga, humanity felled a god.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

**(A/N) Massacre is the name of Nyarlathotep in Revelations Persona. In Revelations Person Kandori is referred to as Guido Sardenia and technically he is only referred to as Super Guido when he becomes God Kandori, but given the fact its practically almost a meme in the community, might as well put it their when Nyarla lends his efforts to Kandori's one on one.**

Yeah, I've brought you this chapter. Yeah, it two years and probably has grammatical eras, but here it is. Either way I hope you enjoyed this chapter of Persona: Be Your True Mind and I'll see you next time for Chapter 25: A Mother's Love.


	25. Chapter 25: A Mother's Love

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything._

Sup, been awhile. Two years but here we are again to blaze a trail, let the good times roll, and hopefully finish this project for God's sake. Either way before I cut to the chase, because I really do not have a lot to say anymore for these introductions for Be Your True Mind, I'd like to give a shout out to the MegaTen Translation group, I believe they have their own reddit thread. They basically have been the best thing to happen to the community in awhile. They're continuing the translation of the Megami Ibunroku Persona manga, which is partly the reason as to why I decided to continue this. They also have subtitled the Persona 1 Drama CD and plan on working on the Persona 3 discs as well at least according to their spot. Whatever, either way these guys are awesome and actively aided in reinvigorating my faith in this project.

Now, here we are. I was gonna talk about E3 but I decided "nah" and simply just wanted to happily state:

WOOP! GRIM FANDANGO REMAKE! HELL YEAH!

With that aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind Chapter Twenty Five.

* * *

><p>Chapter Twenty Five: A Mother's Love<p>

The Megidolean as brought forth by the will of the nine teenagers wafted forth a colossus of purple energy. A sphere coiled in raw strength, a shrouded nebula vacillating in the core. Pulses, vibrant beats reached the rims. The skill was the size of the sun to the gilded sight of God Kandori's embodiment. It was buff whale, hungry and ready to gobble whatever schools crossed it. God Kandori was helpless Jonah, treading water, aimlessly suspended in place. The victory was gone from his angle. His opponent was unstoppable. The fate of his armor and himself became an inevitable consequence for refusing his destined fate of defeat. The whale, the almighty violet ball, consumed its prey. He was swallowed whole without a wiggle of struggle. The peace keeping fingers bent inwards degrading to basic matter. The head was shaved, chiseled away. Perishing in the constant hold the ultimate attack brought with it. The Megidolean, the Almighty Combination, vaporized the armor, the chain mail, the greaves, the worthless metal carapace for the President of SEBEC. The thwarted machinations and filthy ambitions swirling in the muddied soul diluted. The tainted spittle that festered in his intestines cleared. As the intense radiance of the purple sun dissipated like a dying flare in the blackest night's sky, Takahisa Kandori, the instigating demon of Mikage's devastation, laid again ravished and disheveled on his damaged marble floor top of his own office.

The Persona Users watched his subtle twitches, as his newly clothed body squirmed. Such contempt blazed passed his pupils. He was the weakling mortal man now in his current state. He had reverted from his transcendence. The tower had crumbled, broken at its base by the servants he commanded to bow beneath him. He bowed instead, on his final legs, a man who reached God and fell harder than Icarus.

"Hah…to be defeated so…" Kandori choked his words, addressing Philemon's children. "You were absolutely correct, young Nanjo." His neurosis nettled his brain. "This…was the only way I knew how to live, striving towards my dream of being the highest tower. Maybe I summoned you here because I wanted to hear someone say it, to hear another point a dagger at my flaws and stab. I must seem a fool, but I feel remarkably content." His voice represented the fact; it lost its sour and savage edge, even his sword laid quenched far out of his reach, lodged in the floor where Reiji had sent it.

Ayase and Brown remained quiet, mumbling to themselves as they sat. "How is this guy not dead?" Both hissed.

Naoya sighed; thankfully they had picked themselves up once again.

Masao danced crazy. **(A/N) **He kicked his heels, threw his hands up, and his head back and shouted like _The Isley Brothers _song.

Maki could not help snickering at her friend. "_We stopped this madness. Thank God…_"

Eriko plopped her rump on the ground. "_Oh, how unlady-like, but we have…we have reached the conclusion of our fantastic adventure._"

Reiji rubbed his neck, admiring his pathetic brother's labored breath. "Bastard has a fuck load of resolve, don't ya? Prisons gonna treat you nicely, Kandori. You'll be there for a long time."

The relaxing, the timely resort to comfort at the end of battle commenced, permeating Kei's sullen and serious atmosphere. They were not done as they wanted to believe.

Yukino, the singular member of the party allowed to ruffle the boy's feathers, decided to poke the bear. "We did it, Kei, didn't we? It's over, why so earnest?"

Kei frowned, nearly disappointed at Yukino's forgetfulness. "We are not finished, Yukino. There is still a mystery to solve."

The dour heir approached the deafened demon sprawled on the floor. "Where is the real Maki Sonomura?" Kei demanded.

Masao spastic maneuvers ceased, collapsing his inflated positivity. "Oh shit! Wait…Nanjo what are you saying? You mean…Maki…our Maki's here!"

"Ah," Kandori spoke to Kei. "You've solved the mystery of the two worlds. I'm not surprised."

"Kei, what do you mean?" The taken Maki asked in respects to both her friend and her enemy's statements.

Kei directed her to the speaking Kandori.

"You and the people of your world were mere figments of a certain imagination." Kandori replied to Maki, restating what the elder scientist from the Haunted Mansion Daichi confirmed. "The imagination you and your world were created from is the host of the Deva System. Its power source, its optimal battery which allowed us to conduct Nicolai's experiments and necessarily gather the Deus ex Machinas I was informed to use to become god. Yes, as the young Nanjo has determined, the host of the Deva System is… Maki Sonomura!"

"HUH?"

"WHAT?"

"What the fuck?"

"Jesus!"

"How…can…?"

"No way,"

"Like, WHAT?"

Kei smacked his lips in disapproval.

"Huh? What are you saying? What does that mean?" Maki was backing away, distancing herself from the truth until she slammed against the wall. She did not react as vigorously when Mai told her she was the world's creator, nor when Daichi informed them her world was birthed to a host connected to the Deva System, but the fact the host was her, the real Maki, created such an existence frightened her, ruined her assurance of identity.

"You are…" Kei spoke morosely at his haphazard company. "Probably the idealized self of the Maki Sonomura we know and the town you live in is the world of inside her heart. Am I correct, Kandori?"

"Yes…and not only her." Kandori directed his attention at Maki. "Mai and Aki are also shadows within Maki Sonomura's heart….all of you are nothing more than aspects of her, defined fragments of her psyche harvested and animated by the mechanical science of the Deva System."

Maki retracted herself, trying to phase through the wall obstructing her. "No! That's not," She refused to believe, to comprehend.

"Hold on, Nanjo!" Masao interjected. "This is bullshit! How do we know you're right? How do we know Kandori isn't just fucking us around?"

Naoya partly nodded. "Mark's right, Nanjo," He reluctantly stated, unfortunately having witnessed the evidence first hand as well. "How can you be sure?"

Kei shrugged at the abrupt opposition. "Fine then, I will elaborate as to how I deduced the host. Then, Kandori shall give her too us once all of you understand my logic."

"Yay," Eriko clapped. "A parlor scene, my favorite,"

"Hey, like, Brown, what's a parlor scene?" Ayase asked in a whisper.

"If I was to hazard a guess," Brown rubbed his chin. "I'd suppose it would be a scene in a parlor."

Yukino slid her palm on her face, deciding to ignore the two idiots to concentrate on Kei's debriefing.

"Initially, I did not know what to suspect. When we discovered the world conjured, we shall refer to it as the Ideal World for simplicity, was not an alternate timeline, but rather another world in the multiverse, my gray cells were abuzz."

Eriko tsked. "If he's going to reveal everything, he should at least use original catchphrases."

"But this did not explain several discrepancies in the timeline. The renovated gym in our world was not renovated in this. The hole in the wall did not either. The police station was a castle on the other side of town, the hospital was now the Lost Forest. A barrier still bisected the half of Mikage. Demons still converged. Similar but different was our world and the Ideal World, but I remembered the six month difference told to us by the students of the Ideal St. Hermelin. We had stepped backwards in time, but not actually. It was just a replica of our world that was in the past. Six months in the past, and who had been hospitalized because she was incredibly ill six months ago when the refurbishment had not even occurred: Maki Sonomura, the absentee member of our classroom. I'll be frank; I did not discern this connection until we reached Joy Street of the Ideal World and dealt with Chisato's troubles. The first half of my deduction came in the library of the Ideal St. Hermelin, that world's Tsutomu was diagnosing the existence of a stone door. I'm not sure if you likewise recall its shape and design and I will state it was not the exact image, the door black not white, but it resembled Maki's painting which I saw in the Karma Palace as instructed by Chisato formerly known as the Harem Queen. Yes, a black Gates of Paradise stood in the Ideal St. Hermelin's library were we discovered we were in another world. Who painted the laudable Gates of Paradise? Maki Sonomura did, of course. We all know this fact. Then, whose favorite book is "Gates of Paradise." Maki Sonomura's is. Her favorite book is the exact book we returned to her when we visited the hospital the day this all began. Masao and Naoya pointed it out. It was also in the Karma Palace, when our futures we're predicted by the Fates, I discovered Maki did not have a string of fate. Her future could not be predicted, due to the fact she was not the real Maki Sonomura. She was just as much a construct of the Ideal World as the Sisters we fought. She was repackaged matter infused with life thanks to the Deva System."

The other remained quiet, listening intently to Kei's explanation. They raised no objections to his logic. "To proceed with the details, I shall once again direct your attention to the facts. The hospital became the Lost Forest, filled with the Ideal Maki's favorite flowers, which we can infer means the real Maki Sonomura has the same favorite. If you cannot take my word, I am sure Todo can oblige and confirm."

Naoya hesitated, recalling Maki's loved flowers. He unwillingly nodded confirmation.

"Now, Mai resides in the Lost Forest/flower garden, Aki soon chose to reside over the other side of Mikage, the castle that was formerly the police station in our world. We had to gain entrance to castle by delivering Kandori the other half of his necessary key to godhood, Mai's half of the magical compact, the second half in the possession of Aki, which when connected together formed a compact identically to the compact tucked in the Ideal World's Maki's pocket!"

Ideal Maki was cornered. She had pulled the red compact out, gazing at the mirror inside. "You may have thought we would not have noticed you occasionally take it out to watch yourself, but I did. I saw your fiddling. Why does this indict our Maki? She owns the same compact, does she not Todo? Masao?"

The others besides Naoya and Masao confirmed the fact the real Maki Sonomura did have a favorite, prized compact which was the same the Ideal Maki held in her pale hands.

"You see! The compact is a common factor between the four! Maki, Mai, Aki…simple anagrams! Maki must have conceived her own paradise in her heart. One modeled after her memories of Mikage until the day she was hospitalized! She put her idealized, healthy, bubbly self inside as her remnants of optimism and happiness! The Maki who has traveled with us is the real Maki Sonomura's Superego. Mai was clearly her Ego, representing her innocence. Aki is her malevolence, her Id." Kei asserted.

"No way," Masao snapped. "Prove it, Nanjo. Prove Mai is Maki!"

Kei shrugged again. Not even a challenge. "Elementary, Masao, thought it is not solid proof. Let me ask you, in our world, where did our Maki Sonomura reside?"

"The hospital," Masao answered.

"Next, where does Mai reside in the Ideal World?"

"The Lost Forest," Masao answered again.

"Third question, what was the Lost Forest/flower garden in our world before it became as such in the Ideal World?"

"The hospital," Masao repeated his first answer.

Kei paused, waiting for the response.

"You didn't prove shit, Nanjo. Why are you stopping?"

"What you don't realize it, Masao? Fine, this should tie the thread nicely. If the hospital is inhabited by Mai in the Lost Forest which used to be a hospital, where does our Maki Sonomura reside in our world?"

"THE HOSPITAL," Masao screamed for the third time. Then it hit him like a triple bulls-eye. "Mai is the creator who lives in the place that used to be the hospital."

"Where Maki Sonomura, the woman who I propose is the host of the Deva Sytem, the creator of the paradise."

"Then there was no hospital or police station because…" Disconsolate Masao was losing his composure.

"They have no place in paradise. She only had room for what was useful." Kei explained. "It's a general sentiment. My final facts are all you need to understand. Let me state a contradiction between the Ideal World and our world we have never noted. If this is Maki Sonomura's paradise where are the Ideal Yosuke Naito and Chisato Kasai? Why are they not present? Also remember the two had disappeared in our world. We all thought it was an elopement, but once we were inadvertently gathered here thanks to Aki's magic spell, we found the real Yosuke and Chisato had fallen into the Ideal World. My guess is Chisato and Yosuke were no doubt drawn in by Maki's unconscious desires. She would be connected to the Deva System; she could bend reality to make her paradise perfect. When it came to her crush and her best friend, she wanted the genuine article. I cannot explain the absence of us, my hypothesis are mere conjecture. I cannot prove them thoroughly, but since Naoya and Masao visited her regularly perhaps she did not feel she needed to draw them unfairly into her artistic vision called the Ideal World. Since those two are practically the closest people she had beside Chisato and Yosuke. Yes, the closest real people connected to her were inserted into the paradise. The second contradiction arises now, unfortunately, but I can explain this one with ease as well. Setsuko Sonomura, Maki's mother, is non-existent in this world as the Ideal Maki is apt to state at the mention of her. The Ideal Maki has no mother, similarly to how the real Maki Sonomura showed her scorn towards her openly in the isolation of her hospital room."

It was Naoya's turn to counter Kei's argument. "You can't use Aunt Setsuko as evidence, Kei! She was dressed in the illusion of a demon! In the Haunted Mansion in the Ideal World when she was in the infirmary of our world! If the Ideal Maki claims an Ideal Setsuko does not exist, then how would the real Setsuko come to be in the Ideal World? Maki did not put her there. I had to be Kandori and Aki."

"I know it is difficult to accept that your childhood friend hated her mother, Todo, but you cannot deny the fact, excluding the science team headed by Daichi who confirmed they were sent by Nicolai and Kandori, as well as us who accidentally stumbled inside it due to external circumstances, the only real world persons in the Ideal World, have a distinct, exclusive line leading right back to Maki Sonomura! Her best friend, her crush, and her mother,"

"No! Maki would—"

"I never stated it was a fact Maki Sonomura transported Setsuko Sonomura there, it is simply an hypothesis! All I am stating, is the possibility, that the host of the Deva System, clearly Maki Sonomura as I have definitely given enough to support for and confirmed by the president of the project himself, used her abilities to send her friends into her paradise, then with her hate of her mother leaving her in dire loneliness sent her in our warpath, dressed in a visage of a demoness to deceive us into killing her. I cannot prove this hypothesis, because it could just as simply been Kandori's and Aki's work, though it would compromise Kandori's statement of wanting us to challenge him in his godhood by returning using the portal in the Haunted Mansion. I cannot prove either. All I can do is present all the information and have you formulate your conclusions."

Masao gnashed his teeth. Naoya was retreating. "Hey, asshole," The turque-wearing boy called to the SEBEC President. "Did you put Ms. Sonomura in the Mansion or not?"

Kandori grinned. "Take a guess, boy. What I'll be saying is that the trial run of the Deva System succeeded roughly a month ago, but Maki Sonomura was linked to the system even before then. Her wavelength must have synchronized with the system's. Once she had internalized the power to interfere with the dimensions the paradise in her heart seemed to have grown beyond our imaginations."

"And you came into contact with Mai, caretaker of that paradise." Kei reiterated. "Who was partnered with Aki, the two needed to gift you the component to do whatever you wanted."

"Mai, no, that piece of Maki Sonomura was isolated. She had her role as designated by the Ideal Maki: to provide the world she'd always wanted as comfort for Maki in the real world. You know the rest. I took Aki in as my daughter, deceived her to gain her trust and assistance to allow my plan to bare fruit." Kandori explained.

"You're lying! None of that makes sense!" Maki protested, having taken in the logically conclusion. Yet she refuted it, claiming it was incomprehensible when her eight friends, Naoya and Masao included accepted the fact that Maki Sonomura was in fact the cause of these nightmares. Kandori merely utilized her as a tool for his selfish gains and Nyarlathotep's chess game.

Kandori spat at her belie. "Then go, meet your true self!" Unable to raise his arm above his head, he angled his neck at the oak door at the backwall, the one leading to the room where Aki currently stayed. "She is here, behind that door! See for yourself!"

"But I'm me! This…this is too much!" Maki was deranged, as unstable as the vocal landmine that dangerously enthralled their mind in agonizing insanity. Her world was falling apart again. The third statement served to sink in the demolition. She had no choice in the matter. To secure her sanity, she ran for the door.

"Maki," Masao called to her as she darted to the door, pulling it open at an alarming speed.

"Aren't you going after her, punk?" Reiji asked, scowling. "You're the only one who can save her, you know?"

Naoya's jaw hung loose. The facts piecing together the puzzle still, the shocking slam of the door on the hinges barely awoke him. Maki, the Ideal Maki, had gone to see the truth. Unfortunately, he did not like it much himself.

"Maki Sonomura needs to discover her true self." Kandori was speaking to Naoya. "If she doesn't, she shall share my fate. Go to her…Naoya Todo…do not let her go down that lonely path she all ready begun to walk." His words crackling at his self analysis; his loneliness, his arrogance, his want to be greater than he was, was because he was as Maki Sonomura was. Such nihilism, such disdain at a young age. That is why he decided her to be the subject for the experiment, the host for his godhood deliverance. She was him; she even went to his high school. She was perfection. The world's reality, the unfairness of her existence, had poisoned her as much as he. The infection to her worsened, far greater than his did. The paradise, her box of joy shattered, fragmented. Not solely as the result of his experiments, but because her cynicism increased. Her own mother barely saw her ailing daughter. It built and built, until judgment day. The day Kandori's schemes would become reality. The Deva System was activated, affecting both realities, bringing the demons plaguing the formerly idealized Mikage to the unsuspecting real world. All in the name of creating God's Era, all in the name of achieving what he lived to do, all in the name of sacrificing human life for the Crawling Chaos.

"What a pitiful man." Kei spat real saliva as disrespect. "I lost a father. His name was Yamaoka and you had a hand in the killing_._" He went to the door after Sonomura.

Yukino leisurely followed him, glaring at the useless Takahisa Kandori. "We kicked your ass, you piece of shit. Laugh at that now." Content with the revelations brought forth, she accepted the facts. They had won, Kandori was done, and Maki Sonomura was the host. She trusted Kei and so she sided with him, wanting to see the undeniable proof behind the door Maki ran to.

Brown was next with Ayase. "Hey, you know, you remind me of an old man I pissed off once. His name was Yoshida and he hated kids, not necessarily kids by themselves, but the noise we made. It's a petty complaint isn't it? Noise irritates you? You're ready to teach a lesson, in your scenario to kill, for a petty complaint? How is complaining about noise no different than complaining about your position in life? Noise is an unavoidable part of living, same with who you are and where you at. You're a crotchety old dude, who blames the unfairness of his world on others. I'm not saying I'm the most spectacular person, I've done some crap I'm not proud of, but none of it was as bad as yours. I never asked for sympathy and I sure am not giving you any. Enjoy prison. I hope the people you have effected get a chance to see how shriveled you look. It doesn't get easier by the way. Living with the shit you caused." Brown patted the President on the cheek as the agreeing Ayase gave him the bird.

Masao shuffled to Kandori. He put his mouth next to Kandori's ear, softly speaking with a caustic tongue. "If Maki's behind that door, you son of a bitch, I swear to whatever God will listen, if I see your face again, I'll kill you. I promise you that. You will die. The demons will love you in hell, asshole. Peace. Pray we stay away."

Reiji had folded his arms, reclining at the brief words between his party and his brother.

Naoya, deflated Naoya Todo, was standing above his opponent. The weakened Kandori who they incapacitated, the Takahisa Kandori who apparently with his childhood friend had caused the misfortune of their world. He wanted to retort, snap and spit like the others, but his emotions were contained in his heart. It was as if he was walking backwards in his growth along the journey. He could not answer his personal questions. Seimen Kongo was unable to guide him for he could no longer hear his Persona. He was not walking the path of the Emperor, not at the seconds he suffered, hearing Kei tearing away the mysteries and lies. It failed at his job, didn't he?

"Brave Leader," Eriko grabbed his shoulder. "Perhaps…seeing Maki again…will…"

Naoya appreciated Eriko's words, but he could not grant he a steady face again.

"Nao, we gotta go to Maki." Masao reminded solemnly, the line at the door.

Naoya gingerly agreed without speaking. Eriko hustled him along.

"Reiji, you too," Masao called.

"Go ahead, Inaba. I'm sure Four Eyes is right. I'll be right there." He went to his sibling. "I have personal things to say to this bastard before I move on with my life."

Masao understood, Kei flagging him and the rest into the opened door.

At the shutting, Reiji made sure, it was him and Kandori. His brother apparently was waiting for the two brothers to be alone in tandem for he spoke to Reiji speedily.

**(A/N: Play Moonchild by King Crimson**) "You are to kill me here are you not, dear Reiji?"

The scarred boy's knuckles cracked.

"Oh! Delightfully so! Undermine them, Reiji, kill me. I am a despicable character am I not? You scorn my existence as much as I scorned yours correct? Please, then, kill me. I am unable to trick you again. I am a weak, feeble old man. What? Are you unable to do it with your two hands? Your gun, either? How about the Persona? Not even the God of Death you wield can be used to kill me? Then, I offer you solace, dear brother. You see my saber,"

Kandori angled his neck again to show his saber in the floor out of his reach. "If you cannot kill me, hand me my sword…or use it! It does not matter! Kill me…or I'll take the coward's path! Make a choice…just…just end my life, Reiji!"

Reiji's stony features did not react; he picked up his brother's weapon, noticing his yoriodoshi knife thrown aside in the havoc, stained with Naoya Todo's blood. The rivulets had stained his tattered suit. His brother had almost killed his nakama. Could he live with that?

"Yes! Take my head! If you do not! I'll cut my throat!"

Reiji raised the saber, straining his muscles. He wanted to use his full strength.

"Yes! Yes! Do it, Reiji Kido! Do it for that whore mother of yours! Kill me your churlish spawn! You worthless stain in my bloodline! KILL ME, Reiji Kido!"

Reiji stabbed the saber. It went roughly passed the marble wall at his back. He had twisted with his muscular force, jousting his brother's steel not into the now disappointed man's trounced body but the dilapidated wall.

"What are you doing?" His brother shouted. "Why did you do that? Why did you not…"

"You think I'm stupid, Kandori. You're gonna suffer for your sins. I love seeing you so pathetic. You laying there is the greatest thing I've seen in years. I want to preserve this, savor it. When you get your ass locked in iron, I'll be the cackling bastard, laughing at your dismay. I've changed, your death is meaningless to me, but hey, if you think you can do it, reach up to my height and throw your head on your own sword when you can't lift you arms, go ahead. I'll be impressed."

Reiji laughed as he went to the door.

"You…you….get back here! KILL ME! I know in your heart of chaos you want me dead! DEAD! KILL ME!"

Reiji laughed again, watching the furious joules of his brother quivering. "Wait," He paused, a blue aura appearing around him. "I forgot something." His Persona appeared right next to Kandori.

"YES! I knew it! You shall kill me, dear brother!"

"No, just a little retribution." Mot's deathly fingers shot out of the coffin's opening, carving a magnificent matching "X" on the marred skin. Reiji spoke to his brother in pain as the blood dripped free. "An x for you to know you are nothing."

Then, Reiji screamed at the top of his longs. "Takahisa Kandori, you are nothing, a pitiful churlish product ill-conceived by your philandering father! This x, remember, is your brand from me your dear younger brother, Reiji Kido! This brand is my special mark to you so you forever know who cast you outta your godly good life! Who cast you into your prison cell! Beg! Beg! Beg some more! You'll beg the rest of your life to die with anger boiling inside of you for eternity!"

"HAHAHA," Reiji was giddy as he went to join the others. Kandori whimpered like the cur he was.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"This…this can't be!" Maki saw herself, not in a mirror, not in her compact, but in a bed. A box spring mattress where a pajama-wearing Maki Sonomura, white as paste, nearly a shallow breathing corpse laid. She was asleep, tubes and wires funneled down orifices, and attached to vital spots. A cardiac monitor was set up, displaying her waking heart-line. She was deathly sick. Her only lifeline was the attachment to the holographic projection of the gadgetry tower displaying in a transparent hue the Deva System. Maki was the host keeping the machine alive and in return the machine was reimbursing its battery with the necessary sparks of life's wonderful essence.

Maki could not understand the relationship, all she understood was the real Maki Sonomura lay harnessed to a machine that caused terrible deeds and Aki another figment such as herself was babbling in spite of her "father's" defeat. The obtuse Mirror of Chaos was set at the flat of the wall. She guarded it, admiring her selves. Minutes passed in the cushioned air until the group headed inside, lead by Kei.

"You idiots," Aki yelled at Kei and the others."Why did you do that to Daddy? Don't you know what you did? WAAAH!" She was crying actual tears. The Black Angels of Mischief demonstrated grief and sadness to their surprise.

"This is me?" Maki asked. She did not know who, perhaps the ceiling, the others, herself, or maybe the corpse-like Maki Sonomura. Her recognizant lips stated her epiphany. "No…I made everyone suffer?"

"You beat the only one the real me could rely on?" Aki bellowed, red-eyed. "No one will save us now! It's all over!" She wrinkled her nose, feeling mournful instead of keen to blow a raspberry.

"There are three airheads?" Reiji quizzical asked, surprised Kei's summation was correct. "Are they all her?"

"Maki," Masao said.

"No…don't come near me!" Maki backed up, attempting to retreat again, but from a different truth. "Don't look at me!"

"Calm down, Maki!" Masao pleaded. "This has to be some kinda mistake…right?" His lie was to comfort her, for Masao Inaba had likewise adopted Kei Nanjo's deduction. The evidence was clearly displayed for him. How would either deny the facts?

"Stop saying that! I know you are lying! This is me! I can tell!" Maki cried her voice shrill. "I messed up the town and made everyone suffer! I did that!"

"Kandori was just using you!" Reiji stated.

"Like, don't feel bad about it." Ayase bluntly encouraged.

"No…that's not it." Maki pushed her boiling cheeks. "Please don't try to comfort me. Don't be nice to me. I understand everything now. I was jealous of everyone." The Idealized spoke the thoughts of the original.

"Wearing cute clothes," She narrowly sighted Eriko. "Walking around town," Her iris locked on to Yukino next. "Gossiping about each other's boyfriends," Ayase was her telescopic focus. "Laughing and joking," Brown pointed at his chin, surprised at Maki waving her hand towards him.

"I envied everyone who went to school and had fun with their friends. I wished that school and the town would all be swallowed up…" The dark thought finally was vocalized. The hidden falsities designed to disguise the morbid fantasy were stripped. The words left her mouth, the tongue clacked her teeth, she enunciated ever proper phrase and structure. Maki Sonomura had a phantasmagorical wish, a macabre want as addictive as heroine. She was a fiend to the idea, reconcile to her envy, a quaff of her greedy pleasure. She was trapped, alone in a white room, a teddy bear her salvation. It was not enough. So, she wished for the end to the pleasure. The vanquishing of the greened eye monster submerged in her psyche. Goodbye school, goodbye Mikage, the meaning was gone then. Nothing was nothing and her inner desires, her true mind was indeed a voided heart, a gaping and vacuous as a black hole; the exploding star, the catalyst being her bedridden personage.

"Maki…" Masao repeated, ignorant to his love's true face.

"Even if I wanted to do something about it, I couldn't. I cried and cried. My jealousy and loathing grew. I made up an ideal town to comfort myself. Now do you understand? I'm hopeless. I…don't deserve to live!"

"Yes. It's all over! Everyone should just disappear!" Aki piped in, surging in a bizarrely concocted exuberance. "Disappear, everyone!"

In the blink of an eye, Aki, Maki Sonomura's malevolence disappeared as she always did.

"Maki…just…come here, okay?" Masao asked himself why Naoya was saying nothing. He had no words to help.

Naoya was hazy, haggard, and helpless. His Maki, his friend, her façade was ripped away and he saw Maki Sonomura's true persona in her idealized words. Eriko and Yukino, they probably as taken as I am with the sweet girly cherub personality being a fake as much as I, he thought. Brown and Ayase were aloof again, incapable of responding for fear of being far too curt and insultive. Reiji fidgeted, an alien sensation, empathy triggered a designated response. Kei, the logically matured, despite his seasoned intellect, his rife vocabulary, and his rational disposition was doubtful of his feelings.

The carried silence during Kei's reasoning packed Maki's throat with cotton and her eyes with ammonia. The blank stares, the fretful poise drew her inward, pulled her feet to run. "I can't be with you all anymore."

Maki ran to the Mirror of Chaos. She did not blame her friends. She did not run because of their reactions. She ran from herself. She was ashamed of her origins. She had no excuse. It was her thoughts, no matter what part of her it was.

The Mirror of Chaos was relief. It was a mystical item that gave Kandori an abundance of power. It granted wishes like Mai's compact. She plainly made a wish. "Please…send me back into my heart!" The beckoning to her savior was granted. She was whisked away from the real world, her reflection in the glass repugnant.

"Maki," Masao stopped to the spot she had gone from. "You…you idiot, why…why GODDAMN IT?"

Everyone was motionless, inactive, including Naoya.

"Come on, Nao!" Masao chided at his ravaged best friend. "Let's get back in Maki's heart! We can go to the middle level again and...Doc Nicolai can use the Deva System, shoot us right to her!"

"Wait, Masao." Kei politely asked. "Do you know the story of the foolish girl named Pandora?"

"Huh? What the hell are you on, Nanjo?"

"You once convinced me in making a rational decision from an irrational one. I am returning the favor. Now the story of Pandora: The legend says she opened the gods' box, releasing all sorts of evils. It applies to Maki. This town owes its miserable conditions to her wishes. Rather than save her, we should focus on destroying the Deva System. As Daichi said, if we remove the device all matter will reverse transmogrify. The demons shall be gone, Deva Yuga will fall, and the segmenting barrier will fall with it. We remove the Deva System from the equation, the Ideal World is deconstructed. Maki can do us no harm if we cooperate with Doctor Nicolai and disassemble the machine."

"Nanjo…you asshole…how can you say that? How can you say that about a friend? If we destroy that thing what's gonna happen to Maki? She's the host, remember? Kandori said their wavelengths or some junk are connected. What does that mean? Didn't that Daichi bastard tell us shutting down the Deva System requires the disconnection of the host or his/her death to revert the effects?"

Kei looks at the life signs displayed. "From a glance at the monitor, the tourniquets and tubing, it seems the system is keeping the real Maki Sonomura alive. The attack she contracted during our visit those days ago must have been a physically draining encounter. She may need the Deva System to keep her vitals alive. She may have no will to live. If we destroy her lifeline, Maki Sonomura will most likely die as a result. But as long as it's intact, the fundamental problem remains unsolved. Kandori's device will progress in causing Mikage and the world problems. Don't let your personal feelings sway you. A small sacrifice for the greater good…the choice is obvious."

"What the hell, Nanjo?" Brown objected. "You wanna kill her? Are you serious? I'm the one who tells the unfunny jokes here!"

"I am serious Uesugi. It is the logical decision." Kei was not sure; however, his voice lacked conviction.

"I can't…I can't condone this." Yukino boldly announced.

"Kandori is evil, the pure blooded antagonist for our tale begun by Philemon." Eriko said. "But, even we decided it was a difficult decision to take his life. He is a terrible man that has done terrible things to others. Maki is remotely innocent. She provided a harbinger, an exploratory world to deliver both Kandori and the Crawling Chaos the seeds of destruction for us. We jointly chose to stop Kandori, but not to kill him. Reiji even has ranked in as a protagonist than an antihero. We did not kill Takahisa Kandori, but you want to kill a hospitalized girl whose thoughts became reality?"

"Like, you must have a rotten skull, Kei." Ayase sharply hissed, visibly upset. "Euthanize her or something like that? You're totally nuts!"

Kei recoiled. He was the villain now. "My intent was not…" He couldn't finish his sentence.

"I hope you're ready for this!" Masao sent Kei reeling to Yukino waist with his herculean cross. "You duped me, Nanjo. I had you all wrong. I didn't think you could really be this cold. Maybe what you're sayin' is true. It's the kind of logic an adult would use. But dude…Maki might've tried to make us suffer, but she also tried to save us all. Or are you really gonna try to logically debate all the shit the Ideal Maki Sonomura and Mai did for us in order to stop Kandori and Aki's plans. I believe in Maki. I know she has what it takes to break away from that machine."

Reiji sprinted to the Mirror of Chaos. "I'm going in. I'm not letting her take the easy way out. My mom got thrown away like an old rag, but even suspecting what would happen, she gave birth to me. Know why she did that? She told me she couldn't neglect her own child's life. She has a mom too. No parent alive doesn't love their child and I'm gonna make sure one of them sees their mom again. Whether it is the Ideal or the real,"

Masao joined Reiji. "Everyone wants to see her; I know it in my heart. There's no need for them to suffer alone. They can call on us. Please, Maki," Tears streaked his cheeks. "I'd go anywhere for you."

Kei wanted to scoff, but the sentimental arrows disrupted his brainstem. "Heh, you believe in her, eh? Yamaoka said he believed in me too. Man is an emotional creature. We can split hairs all we like but the ultimate decision is made by one's heart. I'll go in as well."

Deep down Kei cared, that made Yukino smile.

"Sheesh, you and your arguments, you could have just come out and said so," Masao playfully said. "Wouldn't a clever, mature adult stay here?"

"As a boy of 17, I am not legally considered an adult yet."

"When will I learn? You always got some kind of comeback all ready, Nanjo." Masao jibbed.

"Well, since Kei is neglecting to handle the reprimanding. Guess I'm gonna have to keep playing mother hen." Yukino threw up a fist, razorblades in between her fingers. "Ms. Saeko'll kill me if I let anything happen to any of you guys."

Brown lowered his battle visor (a.k.a. his sunglasses.) "I'm all in baby! I got the ace of spades up my sleeve! We can beat any stacked hand we're dealt!"

Ayase wanted to rebound off Brown's optimism, but the ghastly Maki distracted her. "I…I know what it's like to hate being alone." She coldly said aloud. "I have a disorder were I fear loneliness. I can understand Maki."

The long socked girl was at the bedside. "I…can't say, like, I will be much help…but I can't hate her for hating being alone. It's a shiver you can't warm. A total itch, you can't scratch. I…I…like…damn it." She choked a sob. "Nobody is gonna kill her! Okay! We're gonna…we're gonna save her life, I don't care what it takes!"

Brown wrapped his arm proudly around her shoulder as she cried. Eriko joined him.

"We've come this far, a guardian angel's role is never finished. I'll accompany all of you, my friends, until the last pages, for it is my duty to protect you." She brushed her rival in love's bangs from her brows. "Especially you, Maki,"

"_Shit, I'm last. How am I the last to volunteer_?" Naoya thought, his friends looking to him for guidance his waning mind could not offer.

"One…second…" He mouthed, laying to Maki. He caressed her numb cheek. "Why, Maki? Why did you lie to me? To Mark, to everyone…why didn't you trust me? You could keep your secret with me. Why didn't you? Did you hate me too? Were you jealous of me too? You know I would have done anything for you. You know Mark would do the same times a thousand. So, why…damn it! Why did you hide it?" He wanted to pound his fists, as he dabbed the water he leaked. "I thought we had a bond…that couldn't be broken Maki. A bond forged with an indestructible chain. What happened to that, Maki? Did you not trust us anymore? Did you want to face it all alone? The despair…you lost all your hope. You became depressed. You'd rather bath in nihilism, instead of let me help you. You know if you told me I promise I'd never let you feel that way again. You know I always keep my promises, Maki."

He kissed her forehead. "I'm sorry, Maki. I'm sorry I could not stop your pain. I'm sorry I never noticed the suffering you faced. I promise you, we'll fix this. I promise…Maki…you'll never feel this way again."

Naoya shifted as he rubbed his eyes. "I apologize for this. I…I was hurt…and the wound was not one mended by magic."

"Good deeds should be done swiftly, Todo." Kei stated to his leader. "Let's dive back into Maki's soul."

Naoya agreed, checking his katana. "Let's start running to Doctor Nicolai!"

"Wait, Punk!" Reiji exclaimed.

"Look, Brave Leader, the mirror!" Eriko chimed.

"There's something there now!" Yukino said.

The Mirror of Chaos displayed a show for them similar to when Deva Yuga was born back in the Mana Castle. It was the Deva System. The obelisk of technological advancement was sturdy. The gadgetry was functioning perfectly. The image zoomed to a finely blown flask, the size of a flatbed truck, brimming with filaments and circuitry. It was the connector bar between the opposite two cylinders that made up the rest of the matter controlling device. The flask was sparking, flickering blue static. A glare, a lens flare was momentarily blinding the Persona Users, until it suddenly stopped. The flask, the important component to the machine, disappeared as Aki and Maki had. It was gone and the holographic projection demonstrated the necessary loss by shifting in hue. The System was alive, keeping its host aloft in breathes, but it did not offer sheen of functionality any longer.

"It disappeared." Masao said. "Now what, Nanjo, we can't get back like this?"

"Something must have happened in the Ideal World in Maki's heart." Kei inferred. "With Kandori incapacitated, she's the only one who can pull objects from this world to hers. From the diagram at the bed's end, she must have taken the core unit, the cog that offered the matter transformation effects."

"What about Kandori's mirror?" Eriko offered. "If we can't use the Deva System, let us have his mirror send us back."

"Oh, yeah, we could still do that! Maki did!" Masao added.

The Mirror of Chaos splintered like a spider web and shatter like a bear bottle. The shards of in congruent forms dissipated. As subtle as a lightning bolt, their hopes were dashed by a cruel twist.

"Damn it! Is this for real?" Masao complained, unbelieving at what just happened.

"Is Maki resisting us?" Kei suggested. "It seems that way to me."

"No…this might be Nyarlathotep. He probably created the Mirror for Kandori." Naoya said. "He prefers to make the balance unequal."

"If the Crawling Chaos is the destroyer of the Chaos Mirror, his ulterior motive is to prevent us from aiding Maki." Eriko said.

"Damn it!" Masao kicked the wall. A glitter at his foot bothered him. "Wait!"

Masao picked up the Ideal Maki's red compact.

"Damn it! What're we gonna do now?" Masao opened the compact. "Maki must have dropped this. But it won't do us any good on its own."

"What is it, Masao?" Kei examined the compact. "It's Maki's compact. Hm, there's no mirror inside."

"Hey, the real Maki has a compact, too!" Ayase exclaimed, noticing the green painted compact clutched at her breast.

Ayase pried the object free and gave it to Naoya.

"_Maki's real compact_? _I don't think this will do us much good either._"

"Let's see here." Kei examined the real compact. "The real Maki's compact and the Ideal Maki's compact. The real one has a mirror."

"Gimme that, Nanjo," Masao snatched it from Kei's hand. He raised it to the heavens. "Please! Send us back into Maki's heart!"

The ordinary handheld mirror did not grant his wish.

"The compact couldn't possible have such powers as Mai and Aki's in the real world." Kei explained. "If only the Ideal Maki's compact was complete, then maybe…hypothetically,"

Yukino grunted. "Maki…she isn't leaving us squat."

Brown rubbed his chin, mocking Nanjo. "Wait, Nanjo!"

Kei sighed, closing the Ideal Maki's mirror-less compact. "Yes, Uesugi,"

"The Ideal Maki's compact, can it grant wishes?"

"I have no idea, Uesugi. There is zero evidence to suggest it can. That is why I said if it was complete…hypothetically we may suppose the Ideal Maki shared the ability, for she, like Mai and Aki, are pieces of Maki Sonomura."

"Then, we just gotta slap glass in that sucker!" Brown got on all fours by the crude frame of the Mirror of Chaos. He was frantic in his search.

"Help me, Nanjo! There has to be a shard of Kandori's mirror!"

"You impress me, Uesugi." Kei joined the mountebank in his fever-pitch scouring.

Brown smiled a bright beam. "I'm paying my penance. I ain't running scared again!"

Masao and Reiji gathered to help for the minute shard.

Ayase followed to Brown, Yukino to Kei, and lastly Eriko.

"_I can't. Nyarlathotep will not tease a chance. The Ideal Maki…according to Kei…is the manifestation of Maki wanting to change herself. The Ideal Maki is who she wanted to be. If her ideal denied its own existence...Maki has to have really lost hope as I thought. If that's the case, if she is hopeless and wants to die we'll never find a sliver!_"

Naoya knelt. "_Please Partner, I…I need help. Damn…I can't hear him anymore. What am I doing? Why am I acting like this? I am the neutral. I can't wallow in myself! I have to…have to…think of everyone…everyone around me…including Maki._"

Naoya faced her shut lids. He spoke. "Maki…if there's even a fragment left…of hope…of life…please…do what Mark said…call out to us. Show us…show me…your hope."

Naoya pulled the grated shard of the Chaos Mirror from underneath her earlobe. Philemon, Nyarlathotep, Maki, who guaranteed its existence, was irrelevant. This shard was their ignited hope, burning hot again.

"Todo, is that a shard of Kandori's mirror? The size and shape…I think it might fit the Ideal Maki's compact!" Kei hurriedly compared the shard from Naoya and the Ideal Maki's broken compact from Masao.

"Seriously," Masao exclaimed. "Maybe we can use this to go back! Lemme see it, Nao!"

Masao put the shard in the broken compact firmly. "It's a perfect fit! Whoa!"

Their wish was granted. They dived back to Maki Sonomura's heart.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

The third traverse through the portal dropped them harshly at a forked path to a spruce array of trees.

"You kids?" Setsuko Sonomura dressed in her suit jacket asks to the eight youths who fell from a dimensional portal. "Are you all right?"

"Ow!" Masao winced. "Augh, I get it the compact brought us here."

The Mirror of Chaos shard had fit perfectly in the red compact in Masao's hand.

Naoya caught the compact Masao had tossed him as he stood. "Aunt Setsuko, how did you…"

"Ngh," Kei roused. "Where are we?"

"Looks like it worked, Four Eyes." Reiji said.

"This is where Mai and the Jack Bros live." Yukino said.

"Yes, the Lost Forest." Eriko said.

"Why have you all come back?" Setsuko demanded. "What about Kandori?"

"Same to you, lady," Masao snapped. "Why're you here? We left you at the Haunted Mansion!"

"I…don't really know. After I transported you all, I thought I heard Maki's voice again and when I came to, I was here. But why have you all come back?"

"Aunt Setsuko has been teleported again." Naoya mumbled. "Maybe this is also Maki's doing."

"Allow me to explain. You should know the truth." Kei explained their escapades.

"No! That can't be…" Setsuko's reaction to the accounts of nefarious acts involving her own daughter. "What about Maki? What's going to happen to her?"

"If we leave her be, she'll stay that way for the rest of her life. Or worse…" Kei delivered.

"No…Naoya…can't you do something?" Setsuko pleaded to a recognizable face. "My Maki,"

Naoya nodded. "I'll save her, Aunt Setsuko. I said I would and we will!"

"Are you sure, Naoya? Can you—"

"Cool it, lady! That's why we came back!" Masao defended.

"Don't worry," Reiji comforted.

"Yeah, we won't, like, let it end like this!" Ayase added.

"Your daughter's safety and health are our priority." Eriko stated.

Yukino spun a razorblade. "We'll return everything to its former beauty."

Brown threw a peace sign at Setsuko. "No problem, Mama Sonomura! I am the blue collar knight who'll save your princess!"

Setsuko was touched. "Thank you, everyone,"

The serendipity met a resounding female sniffle. "WAAAH,"

Setsuko's senses perked. "Was that Maki's voice? She must be just past here!" She was heading to the shadowy pathways.

"Let's go to the ginger bread house!" Masao demanded, reminding everyone of his markers designed to be followed. "That li'l Maki might know something?"

Naoya lightly moved his Aunt Setsuko back. He could sense the breathing of the demons that had inhabited the Lost Forest. The wind was his ally once again as he drew his katana. "Aunt Setsuko, stay here. It's dangerous in there now. We should go alone."

"Take me with you, Naoya!" Setsuko ordered. "She's my daughter! I can't leave her suffering like this!"

Naoya frowned. "Aunt Setsuko…"

Kei explained the details. "This forest is potentially hazardous. Naoya's unusual sixth sense is often right. Your survival is far from assured."

"I don't care about that!" Setsuko cried.

Reiji positioned himself in front of her. "No worries, Ms. Sonomura. I won't let any demon touch a inch of you."

"Reiji," Naoya hissed. "Thanks again."

Reiji replied with a thumps up.

"Then that settles that. Come on, Todo. Let's reunite a mother with her child."

"Everyone, make a formation around Aunt Setsuko! Shield her as best as you can!" Naoya yelled.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

The group of nine entered the long forgotten gingerbread house. They had followed the correct path as indicated via Masao's tree markings and the Jack Bros previous instructions. The demons had invaded to hinder their progress. They fought hard and fast, determined to protect Setsuko and reach their goal. They stepped passed the breaded threshold again to find the White Dressed Angel, the representation of Maki Sonomura's innocence Mai and her Pyro Jack

"Maki…is that you Maki?" Setsuko ran to her as a distressed mother would to her baby, knocking aside the distraught Pyro Jack.

"Waah…MOMMY!" Mai was bawling. The sadness had confiscated her tranquility.

"I'm sorry, Maki…I'm so sorry." Setsuko embraced her child, hugging her bobbing head to her warm breast.

"Mommy, Mommy! Waaah," Mai cried in her mother's shirt, releasing her anxiety.

"Mai, are you calming down." Naoya politely asked, Pyro Jack at his ankle.

"Uh-huh, mister," Mai replied, still flustered.

"Mai…Maki," He corrected. "We can help you. The real you, I know that sounds weird, but is there anything you can do?"

"Nu-uh, nothing," Mai said.

"Why not," Kei said. "Are you not also an aspect of Maki Sonomura?"

"Aki wants to make this world go away." Mai screamed, reciting Aki's powerful words regarding disappearing. "She went to where the really bad me is."

Everyone gasped.

"There's ANOTHER one of her?" Masao asked.

"The really bad me is called Pandora. Aki went and broke Pandora's seal."

Kei was startled at the implication.

"Mistress Pandora-hee…ate Mistress Aki-hee…" Pyro Jack wept. "Now, Mistress Pandora-hee is trying-hee to make this world go away-hee!"

"If she does that…" Mai wept with her plush jack-o-lantern. "We'll…I'll…die."

They each knew she meant the original Maki Sonomura.

Reiji howled. "Then, where can we find Pandora?"

Kei exclaimed eureka having pondered his conclusions. "Pandora…Pandora has to be Maki's…Maki's nihilism as Todo said. She swallowed Aki, who is Maki's darker carnal desires. She consumed malice, meaning she represents a piece of her greater than malice. Her want for the world she could not be apart of to be swallowed as the Ideal Maki conveyed. The world being swallowed…was her… her PARADISE! The school! She…Pandora has to be beyond that stone door we found in the library! It's Maki's Gates to Paradise! Am I correct?"

"Uh-huh." Mai answered affirmatively. "You'll need three compacts though, Mister, and…my energetic self's help."

"Energetic?" Naoya repeated. "You mean the Ideal Maki?"

"N.T., we have the three compacts don't we?" Brown asked.

"Brave Leader has the red compact the Ideal Maki had." Eriko said.

"And Masao has the original Maki's green compact." Yukino stated.

"We're missing one." Reiji growled at Naoya and Masao handling only two.

"Where's the final compact?" Kei asked.

"And the final Maki," Naoya added.

"Mister, save the energetic me first, please...it's all my fault."

"Mistress Maki-hee is crying deeper-hee in the forest with Jack Frost-hee." Pyro Jack finished. "I'll take you-hee to her room-hee."

Setsuko aimed herself at the door at the back wall. "There's another Maki behind this door? Then I'm coming with you all!"

"I can't refuse now, Aunt Setsuko. As long as everyone else is okay," Naoya looked to his friends, met with naught a sigh.

"Let's go then, Aunt Setsuko, everyone! Lead the way Pyro Jack! Let's go get Maki!"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

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><p>AN: Mark danced crazy is an infamous line from Revelations: Persona that is kind enough to remain in the better, properly translated PSP version SMT: Persona. Moonchild is like my favorite song ever by King Crimson and there was in fact an editing mistake that I am not going to fix that was to have you guys play the song when Reiji saves Naoya's life instead its at their final exchange. If you are for some reason unaware to the well-known masterpiece works of Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, little grey cells and elementary are compliments to the amazing detectives Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes respectively.

Now, this is kinda of the controversial chapter of the whole novelization because if you played the actual game you know I have altered pretty much none of the cutscenes in terms of story content. I may have added lines for everyone and maybe certain filler phrases or needed segways but I never outright altered dialogue or content I believe. In the game, Kandori dies after God Kandori is defeated and Kei simply states exactly "Where is the real Maki Sonomura?" That is it. No explanation or parlor scene. Its abrupt like most plot twists in the game to allow you to believe that Kei just knows without any evidence. All the shit I wrote in the story are all things that can be construed as evidence in the game to formulate a logical conclusion that Maki Sonomura was the host. Naoya's off hand comments about how such and such is like Maki or how Maki did this and that is my own design but it would make sense for him to say these things since, you know, their relationship is very platonic. Those are subtle and my own designs. All of the conjecture Kei was giving though is basically all capable of being used in arguing his logic just from the game.

As for why I allowed Kandori to live, simply put I had a hard time rationalize these teenagers wanting to kill him. Certainly we can argue ethics and what not all day, because the death penalty is not a pure black and white concept, there really is a gray area and variability to the situations but I can't just make a member of the Scooby gang Sam Spade. These are kids, teenagers who are drawn into this shit, basically by divine intervention. I can't say if I was in this situation I would want to kill Kandori, simply because I don't think I could ever kill a man. Honestly, if you really want Kandori to die, don't worry, he will. IN a loophole sort of way. You'll get it when we reach the epilogue, but really it is not relevant whether Kandori is alive or dead anyway because in Persona 2: Eternal Punishment his soul is fuckin resurrected by the Kotodoma Ritual and possesses the body of Tatsuzo Sudo's male secretary! I think Nyarla even states at some point he picked Kandori specifically to help engineer that stupid machine that gathers Kegare or something too. Plus he suddenly has an x-shape scar on his face, so I had to have Reiji get his retribution. Like I said that scene was added specifically to wrap up their relationship.

So, as I said gray area. I didn't feel comfortable with outright killing him which unfortunately does cause a paradoxical invasion of ethics one scene later, but the game does imply that Kei never meant the callous things he said; he was just trying to rationalize the situation.

To the logic break down, I really don't know how Setsuko got in the Haunted Mansion, or the Lost Forest. There is literally no explanation. As Kei said, the first time could have easily been Maki or Kandori. We don't know. As for the Lost Forest, it is possible Maki brought her there. I don't know. I love this game's story, but they do just expect you to take things at face value at times. Like the Mirror of Chaos breaking, for the record, I assumed Nyarla made it for Kandori, I don't know, I also have no clue why it broke. The game says Maki does it, but if that's the case why is there a shard left for them to use. So, I, yes I had Naoya say, a proposition that Nyarla could have done it to hinder them because Aki breaking Pandora's seal could cause just as much trouble for humanity as Kandori could. Either way I hope you enjoyed this chapter of Persona: Be Your True Mind and I'll see you next time for Chapter 26: Faceless!


	26. Chapter 26: Faceless

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything._

Here we be again. I'm gonna attempt to get a chapter out every weekend if at all possible. Given this one's potential length you might be seeing two for this week, but I am not making any more promises, because unlike Naoya I cannot always keep them. But if I keep the general pace, the story will pretty much be done by the end of the month. Chapter 26 and 27 kind of have to go together. 28 and 29 are the final battle, so they shall be uploaded most likely together, maybe with a brief break in between. Chapter 30 is the epilogue so that is gonna be a pretty lengthy endeavor to conclude the project and probably will take awhile, but I'll try to get it out in the range of Ch28 and 29 being uploaded.

Shout out time again. I think I'll do this for the remaining intros. Might not have enough people to shout out to though. The author's name is Jodasgreat and the story is his crossover of Persona 1 character from 1996 to the modern days of Persona 4. The title is Persona 4: Be Your True Mind, and it ultimately is a contributor to me continuing. Not because it's the title of this project with a four, and, like, an original premise but because it is a Persona story on this site that uses Persona 1 characters and therefore it deserves at least some attention. How it enabled me to get up on the horse again? The latest review stung me in the heart. I didn't want it to be the only active P1 story on the here. I wanted to finish what I started and as you can see I resurrected this dog I swore I put down.

With that aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind Chapter Twenty Six.

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><p><em>Chapter Twenty Six: Faceless<em>

"Mistress Maki-hee!" The animated snowman Jack Frost was sitting blanched. His Mistress dismissed him from his Spell Card, releasing him to the chafe-like plain deep in the Lost Forest. Maki lay on a nostalgic box spring mattress dressed with medical white sheets. She cast Jack Frost from the sea of her soul, lay on her side facing the shielding trees forming the bounders of the room, and told him to go to Mai.

The snowman refused. "Mistress Maki-hee! You can't-hee abandon your amihos!"

The burden she held was unfathomable to the imp.

The icy demon sprayed tears. "Please, Mistress Maki-hee! Mistress Aki-hee's gone! Mistress Pandora-hee swallowed her! I'll melt-hee if I lose-hee you, too!"

Jack Frost's words were far from insipid. Pandora, thanks to Aki's breaking the seals the original Maki Sonomura created to bury her, the incarnation of the entire girl's evil was preparing in her domain to demolish the paradise in the heart. All the Makis knew this fact. In the end, Aki was going to accomplish what she said she wanted. Everyone was going to disappear.

"_Aki's…dead. Maki…no…my malice is dead. Maybe not dead, Pandora absorbed the darker childhood secrets that created Aki into her vortex of odiousness. What would happen if Pandora was…killed? She is practically my shadow…she's the inner flaws and weaknesses of me. If we acknowledged that figment of psyche, would it stop the incessant bothering?"_

_"Acknowledging our dark side is not done as fast as a flip of coin. I know I cannot live with myself with what I've done. My thoughts they terrorized my friends. The peace suffered. The world suffered all because of my jealousy. All because of my loneliness, I became an executioner for humanity! How can I live with that? How can I accept that and move on! I deserve to stay her alone! I deserve to succumb to Pandora's abolishment of this forsaken place!_"

"Maki,"

"_That voice…Mom._"

"It's me!" Setsuko Sonomura had dashed to her room, flattening the dismissed Jack Frost in the process. "It's me your mother!"

"_I won't show myself to her…I can't show her my face._"

"Let's go back together, Maki." Setsuko exclaimed, concerned engaged.

"Don't come near me!" Maki screamed, hugging herself. "_Shut your eyes. You can't look at her._"

"Look, Maki! These people came all this way because they were worried about you!"

"_They, how did they come back? Why did they come back? Don't they see I'm terrible?_"

"Why…" Maki shot around to stare her mother passed her glasses. Her face was covered, bolted with a pure white plate, circular around her oval shape face. The tile-like panel plastered to her face became her new demeanor. Expression-less, emotion-less, it was the example of nothing, hiding her covered features. She had no identity any longer. She was a faceless being. She no longer symbolized happiness and morals. She was no one. She had no name, but Maki Sonomura. She had no distinguishment other than Maki Sonomura's odious deeds. She was a mask, a mask to hide her self from the world.

"Why did you all come her?" She screamed, the mask disguising any possible hint of fluster. "Don't you know what kind of girl I am?"

"Maki…" Masao said as weakly as before. "I know you feel like you can't let what the original Maki did go, but doesn't everyone get jealous now and then, one way or another?"

"Stop, Masao-kun! Please don—"

Masao cut her off. "I know I do! I was jealous of Nao, Maki. Can you stomach that? I was jealous of my best friend and you want to know why? It was because of his relationship with YOU Maki. Here I am trying my hardest to proclaim my feelings and Nao's chatting you up with out an ounce of trouble. He's my best friend, Maki, and even I envied his ability to talk to you. I wanted the deft intimacy you two shared."

Naoya's shock at Maki's appearance was withdrawn as Masao was gulping his dirty laundry. The ear ringed boy flicked his discernable hoop and grabbed his friend's shoulder.

"No worries, Mark." He said. "I was jealous of him likewise, Maki. Mark, always could bullshit with the best of them. He could always be brazen and courageous. He spoke when he wanted, acted how he wanted. Deep down, I wanted to crack my shell open and fly as widely as Mark can. I wanted to have conversations with more than four people in my life, Maki. I wanted his brashness and ballsy attitude. I could carrying a tune with you about anything. I could shoot the breeze with this guy here, but most others…with the exception of Eriko, I couldn't climb out of my shell to speak as openly."

Masao and Naoya high-fived and clutched each others' fist. "See Maki, even though we were jealous of each other, are bond is as strong as ever."

"On top of that, Sonomura," Kei piped. "You were simple being used as a pawn in the ploys of a madman. It's Kandori's fault, not yours."

"The Crawling Chaos is to blame even more, Maki." Eriko chimed. "He is the root of the problem for us—"

"How often did I try to kill everyone?" Maki exclaimed, interrupting Eriko's statement with a crass tone unbecoming of her usual self.

"How can you be so nice to me?" She demanded, likely sticking her nose up at them under her mask.

"I don't want your pity!" She cried, cringing in her very own skin. "It just makes me more miserable!"

"I…deserve to die!" Maki yelled. "Don't you get it? After all I have done, I deserve to die!"

"That's not true!" Masao snapped.

"Why do you deserve death?" Kei asked. "Because of petty jealousy, because of uncontrollable thoughts placating your mind,"

"Like, stop saying stuff like that, Maki!" Ayase ordered, reaching tears again. "How can you say you deserve to die?"

"Just because you wanted what everyone had?" Eriko stated. "I'm sure if any of us were in your position for all those months, with all your years of experience, with the minimalistic amount of companionship, we'd turn in on ourselves too and indubitable want scorn and jealous for those who had what we were not allowed."

"I've been there, Maki." Yukino said, bravely. "When I was a member of the Papillions, the reason I joined was to savor the freedom and dominion they had. The gang members were honored with the availability of delinquency. They had no rules to follow, no customs to oblige to. I wanted exactly that when I moved to Mikage and I did. Even, with me no longer a member, and they were disbanded and punished by the MPD, I am still sanctioned by association to have caused the same amount of violence and vandalism as they had. Hanya, that scar-face wannabe, rides me every day. You know what, Maki, I live with it. I don't let it dictate who I am or what my life means to me."

"STOP IT!" She screamed surprisingly through the mask. The faceless being had a gargantuan vocal range.

"Stop lying! Stop playing sympathy with me! You know it in your hearts, that I am a terrible human being! You know it, don't you, Nao-kun? You know I'm the worst girl alive!"

Naoya shook his head immediately, giving the brunette an answer he had given her in another form. "Don't hide like that, Maki."

"Todo is right!" Kei added spontaneously. "I'm sorry but I cannot address this petulant child with innuendo and sly phrases! You've sown these seeds, Sonomura, and now it's time to reap them! If you want to die, Sonomura, why sit around and mope about it? Don't make empty threats if you don't have the courage of your convictions! You spoke of pity? Don't make me laugh. We came here of our own will because we could sympathize with you. I can sympathize with you! My parents were strangers to me, Sonomura, you saw it in the Sisters wind did you not? They cared for me not as a son, but an heir! I was meant to carry on in name, but not in prosperity of love and care! I was abandoned to study and craft myself with my own hands! I resented them each! I hate them now! Can you not see the similarity? My outlet of hope was Yamaoka. His death caused pain, but they are merely birthing scars for he is with me till the end of the line!"

"Kei, no, sto—"

"What chapter do you give up feeling sorrow for your self, Sonomura?" Brown exclaimed, his turn to interrupt. "So what you got a skeleton in your closet? What good do you think wallowing in woe is gonna do you? I can tell you, it made my insides a scourge to my body! I turned my back to my friends in vein of what you have done, Maki! Guess what I did, I ruined our relationship to lengths you wouldn't believe! Now, they won't even answer a call from my parents! I fucked up that bad! Look, at us both now, Maki! Look at all the friends we have around us! I felt a compelling loneliness from my actions, but now I have reclaimed a speckle of what I used to. Look at yourself, you have done things as well, but look at each of us standing her exploding at you! We ARE HERE for YOU! Get it!"

"Brown, no! Please,"

"Like, don't you dare say you want to die for feeling lonely!" Ayase snapped. "I have autophobia! Know what that is, Maki? Fear of loneliness, like so if I am by myself, like, I can't breathe because my heart is racing at mach five! My anxiety is inescapable; I can sympathize with your pain in isolation, Maki! It's totally terrible; you feel like you're being ignored! You want badly for another person to sit in chair at your bed just to help you go to sleep! You are, like, paralyzed at the thought and the moment it happens, you are totally D-O-N-E! You can't move, you suffer inside and out! You have to gather people in flocks to keep your stress down! I've endured this my entire life, and I can never hate you, Maki! I can never say I blame you for hating being alone! But don't you dare, don't you ever say you want to die! I can't let you give up, when you can live on! I wore a mask too! A fake face to keep others from leaving me! I had to be follower! I had to, like, reject my true feelings, to be with others! Now, I don't have to hide anymore, Maki! I can show my true face to my real friends! I don't have to fear being alone anymore, because the bright side of the truth is I can have close friends! Those close friends would put themselves in harm's way for me! Like Brown said! Look at us! Look at how far we came for you!"

"Ayase-chan, I never…"

"You never realized how similar you were until right here, right now, huh, Airhead?" Reiji stated, walking to the bed as close as possible. "It's a big thought buster isn't it? When you realize you and another person you have journeyed with are no different than you are. Maki, I'm talkin' bout' you and I. I didn't see it at all, until I saw the real deal in that hospital bed like a cadaver on a slab. We both grew up without fathers, right? Our mothers made sacrifices to raise us based on the conditions our life styles were in. I was lonely as well. It's such as openly gentle thing to say aloud, especially when all these other wimps said the same, but I am being sincere with you. I was alone, carving out a name for myself in the world. My blood was boiling with unstable want of vengeance. I had no one, but my mother and I didn't hate her. That's probably where we differ. The reason I did not hate her is that I knew she wasn't the cause of our hell. Kandori and his father were, and my rage and ruffian-traits did not help. I isolated myself with punches and kicks. I bit and crawled to one day reach my brother's throat and rip it out. Then I fell into another hole in my life and understood finally, all my rage, all my hatred had left me nothing but my mother as my companion. Do you want to die, Maki, alone and by yourself without even your mother, who ran to you in concern with demons in the mist? Do you deserve to die for an uncontrollable wind in the roads of life, alone, when all you nakama have bit and crawled their way to save you?"

She touched the bolted mask that rendered her faceless. She grabbed her head harshly. "You…I…stop! I can't face you…I'm better alone…"

"But even before we came here, Sonomrua…" Kei started again. "Did you think you were alone in this world? We live at the sufferance of others. Each is responsible for each. Your careless decision of suicide would have left behind wounds that would never heal on each of us. If you still want to die, even now after hearing our sympathies go ahead. Put it all behind you, but you are our friend and we can never put you behind us."

"_I'm selfish even when I'm the ideal me, aren't I_?"

"Now, let's get back!" Kei was further crass.

"_My misery caused others misery which turned back and caused me internal misery to where if I, Maki Sonomura, were to deal with misery I would cause my friends true misery. Does that make sense?_"

"We still have to rescue Maki on our own." Kei was at the door, ready to leave.

"_They care for me, Maki Sonomura. They still want to save her life, even when she, I, have harbored such complaints, such agony, and devilish desires towards them? I am an airhead. Like wanting to locate hay in a haystack, its all right in my face._"

"I don't leave things undone. Let us go, if you allow us to Todo."

"Wait!" Maki cried, the white mask crumbling to dust. Her rose cheeks, her benign mole, her chocolate eyes displayed to them unlimited affection. "I'm sorry, everyone. Please…please, let me come along. Even if I'm a dream, or an illusion, or a shadow…I'm still me and…I have Nao-kun and the rest of you with me! That's all I need. I'm not lonely anymore! I can forgive myself. I know the real me can forgive her thoughts! I won't let this world collapse in despair! I'll save myself and I have you guys to help! Thank you…for saving me. So, please, let me come along. If we beat Pandora, I know in my heart we can change Maki Sonomura."

"Heh, of course you can come!" Masao eagerly exclaimed. "Welcome back, Maki!"

A shatter of glass was heard in Maki's mind. _"__**Thou art I and I am thou! Thou hast proven thyself worthy of the power of the Priestess! Thou hast had a revelation of the heart and demonstrated wisdom and hidden knowledge and power! Thou hast earned her Ultimate Priestess! Maso hast become Verdandi, Diviner of the Present!**__"_

"I'm back, guys!" Maki tapped her heart. "I had a revelation of the heart."

Everyone smiled, the unnerving silence has passed them and their friendship blew louder in her soul. The wind stripped away Maso's habit and clothing, split her mask in half. The coveted woman, disrobed, leaving her roman gossamer sheet threaded around her lithe figure. She let her emerald hair flow. Her sacred face was like a sculpture, perfect in every aspect. Her skin glistened with sweat. Her body amplified her nimbus of brilliance. The Ultimate Priestess smiled in the sea of Maki Sonomura's soul. Her restraints broke as the girl found her path in life.

"Thank you, all of you." Setsuko said, embracing her daughter at her standing. "Thank you so much."

"Miss…I mean…Mom…I'm sorry." Maki apologized. "I've been bad. I remember it all now. I was so lonely being by myself. It hurt…I wanted to see you. I forgot you were working for my sake and I decided to hold a grudge. I'm so sorry and I mean, the real me, your true daughter, is so sorry."

"It's okay." She rubbed her daughter's head. "It's all right, Maki. I'm sorry, too."

Maki turned to Kei who had his back to her. "I'm sorry, Kei, Masao-kun, Nao-kun. Thank you very much."

"I should apologize to you, Sonomura." Kei replied. "I said some harsh things."

"Nanjo," Masao chuckled. "Dude…are you blushing?"

Kei strained his neck.

"He's just not used to be thanked." Yukino politely said to Kei's embarrassed chagrin.

"Yes, now, Todo, with Sonomura recovered shall we go?" Kei asked, quick to alleviate the flatter spotlight.

"Yeah, let's go, Nao-kun!"

"Mistress Maki-hee! Mistress Maki-hee! You're back! You're back!" Jack Frost jumped on his Mistress' shoulder.

"Jack Frost, Mistress Maki-ho is back! Mistress Maki-ho is back!" Pyro Jack joined his brother on Maki's opposite shoulder.

"Oh, you two," She caressed their bobbing heads. "I'm sorry I scared you. Let's go get you two back to Mai."

Maki gathered her bow and quiver stashed under the bedspread, barging through the exit, her energetic personality renewed. "Onward to the gingerbread house,"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

The reinvigorated Ideal Maki Sonomrua busted through the sweet sugary backdoor with such enthusiasm she almost crumbled it. The others were trailing her as she masterful fired arrow after arrow to deflect any demons that dared to gaze at her mother. The groups and conglomerates had died faded over their trekking in the Lost Forest, equal leveling the danger to their shoes.

Mai knotted her ribbon, her smile turned-on like a light switch when the Jack Bros shot right to her to bundle at her dimples. "Hee…you're back."

Setsuko went to her child daughter's side, no longer perturbed by the miniature demons. They were harmless.

"Hello, me," Maki greeted, her friends crowded in the enclosed candy closet.

"I'm sorry, me." Mai replied, putting the Jack Bros at her crossed legs.

"That's all right. I'm the one who should apologize." Maki adjusted her ribbon. "I'm sorry, me."

"Like, what is she sorry to the cutie for?" Ayase asked Brown.

"Beats me," Brown shrugged. "Maybe because she didn't take the facts of Maki's 'situation' well."

"More like, the defeat she held in her." Yukino stated.

"Yes," Eriko added. "Our heroine allowed herself to forfeit what she was ascribed to be, falling by the wayside at the eminent demise of this world, to be considered by Pandora."

"You're right, Eriko-chan!" Maki gleefully exclaimed. "I'm the Ideal Maki Sonomura. It's not like me to be so down. Now, Nao-kun filled me in…can you tell us where the last compact is?"

"Since when does, Sonomura take charge, Four-Eyes," Reiji hissed, chortling to himself.

Kei, bothered, glowered.

"Uh-huh." Mai nodded affirmatively. "The real me has it."

"The real you," Naoya repeated.

"Isn't that where we got the green one?" Masao asked, showing Mai the original green compact from his pocket. "I got that one and Nao's got this Maki's."

"Nope," Mai promptly replied. "That's the one from the real world. It has no magic here. The real me's consciousness left her body in the real world. Her consciousness is at the Alaya Cavern now. She has the last compact to unlock the gates."

"The Alaya Cavern," Maki said, thinking of the Alaya Shrine.

"It's behind the shrine." Mai informed.

"The Alaya Cavern, the real Sonomura's consciousness is in the Alaya Cavern." Kei resounded. "If her consciousness had left her body in the real world, transferred to the Ideal World, this may explain her low life signs. If we can return her consciousness to the real world, she would not require the coupling to the Deva System!"

"If Pandora reigns over this world, Kei," Eriko started.

"Pandora will destroy this world, Mister." Mai piped.

"Plus Maki's consciousness," Masao said.

"And us, Inaba." Reiji said. "We are viable casualties if shit goes sideways."

"We won't let it!" Naoya exclaimed. "We should hurry to the Alaya Shrine."

"Nao's right, as usual." Masao said, fishing out his hatchet. "The last compact, then to the school,"

"I'm…" Setsuko was clamoring for words, unable to keep a steady stride.

Maki titled her head to the side, then patted Mai. "Mom, would you please wait here with…heh…me?"

"Why?" Setsuko asked. "Why can't I go with you again?"

"I want to deal with this." Maki bound her with her hug. "It'll be okay. I have friends to help"

Setsuko received a kiss from her daughter. "All right, Maki...you'd better come back, do you hear me?"

"Don't worry, Ms. Sonomura, you'll see her again." Masao reassured.

"Hey, me," Maki looked at her younger version. "Look after Mom, okay?"

"Yep," Mai nodded. "I will. Be careful…me."

"Mistress Maki-hee! Can we-hee come to-ho?" The Jack Bros asked.

"Both of you," Maki asked. "Are you sure you want to leave Mai?"

"Please, me." Mai said. "Take them with you. I want them to help you."

"Okay, then." Maki crouched. "You have Mommy to keep you company, don't ya? That's all ya need, right? We can make a new contract, Jacks. Here,"

While Maki contracted the two demons as her new duo of Personas, Kei questioned Mai.

"When we obtain the third compact, how do we open the gates? Will they open up when we insert the three in the indentations on the floor panel?"

"When you have all three compacts, the energetic me has to chant the spell Erusaer Tsymmom in front of Pandora's door. That should open it."

"Aki's spell," Masao ejaculated. "Erusaer Tsymmom!"

"Like, what the hell language is it?" Ayase asked Brown.

"Probably some ancient Latin chanted by zealots." Brown said. "Probably translates to "to live is to die. **(A/N)** Something like that."

"Hm, Erusaer Tsymmom? Oh!" Setsuko exclaimed. "It's something I taught Maki when she was little. With her father dead and me busy with work, Maki was always alone when she wasn't with you and your family Naoya, when she was intermittently hospitalized. So I taught her this spell to chant when she was lonely at the hospital. I told her that wherever Mommy was, I could always sense her presence and she remembered it all this time."

Naoya was confused. "Aunt Setsuko I don't…"

"Try saving it backwards…" She answered.

He recited the letters in reverse. "Erusaer Tsymmom…Mommyst reasure…Mommys treasure…Mommy's treasure!"

"Yep and that girl's still my treasure." Setsuko confidently stated.

Maki concluded formulating her contracts, the two Jack Brothers nestled in their Spell Cards retracted in her sternum.

"Ready to go, Nao-kun," She informed.

"Then let's be on our way to the Alaya Cavern, Todo." Kei directed as he commonly did.

"Only my Ideal self can save the real me, Mister." Mai told Naoya.

Naoya ruffled her hair. "Man, I forgot how cute a kid you were, Maki."

Mai blushed.

"Stay with Aunt Setsuko, Mai, we can all have nice dreams soon."

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

A/N: To die is to live in Spanish is morir es viviv. A common phrase constantly chanted by the Zealots in the castle area of Resident Evil 4. Though, you might have all ready known that.

Short chapter, very short chapter, it probably would have been even shorter if I didn't add all the characters proclamations of empathy and sympathy. Yes, Naoya and Masao stated they are jealous of each other, Kei referring to his parents, Yukino equating Maki's situation to the gang affiliation, Brown talking about betraying his friends to Yoshida, Ayase's autophobia confession, Reiji's similarity statement we all written by me to in a way tie together everyone past events to this amalgamation of a moment. Though each of their pasts and issues were indeed relevant to Maki's situation and suffering and responsibility in one way or another; they also served to demonstrate the camaraderie, friendship, bond what not between each of them. Maki's revelation is kinda of a halfhearted insertion, because this isn't the real Maki Sonomura so I can't simply create a flashback of her, so instead I used the game's actual scene as a crutch to elevate my purposes. This is technically her developing moment in the game where she has a literal revelation of the heart, she decides not to focus on what she has done and chooses to do something about.

For the record, I find it extremely weird that the true meaning behind the spell chanted by Aki is never actually revealed in the story scenes of the game. Basically what happens is you go into the room the scene ends with Mai telling Maki to chant the spell at the door to open it. Then when you can move around and talk to all the characters, if you talk to Setsuko she explains the meaning behind the spell. I don't know, just seems like an important thing to put in the story, so I had to suddenly throw it in there as best as I could.

I could have maybe shuffled this in with the last chapter, but honestly that chapters was already a bit too long for me and I couldn't add this to the next chapter because despite the fact I plan for it be to be short I have a suspicion, because the formula for this story is I go to write a short chapter and it becomes a pretty lengthy one, that the next chapter won't indeed be short.

I also technically was thinking of tying back into the mention of Maki's consciousness residing in the Alaya Cavern a the beginning by having her, using her own voice, to create the narrative of her life as kind of an explanation and maybe exactly what the idealize Maki felt when she saw her in the bed connected to the Deva System. I did actual write this, but decided it really didn't gel well with the rest of the chapter so I removed it. It was an offhand idea anyway, that kind of wasn't necessary. Wouldn't be the first time the first draft had to be deleted and start freshly. Thankfully that hasn't occurred on more than two occasions.

Before I sign off with you guys, on the subject of deleting first drafts, here's a little bit of a real author's note for you. Regarding Naoya and Masao stating their jealousy for each other's opposite characteristics, in Masao's chapter, chapter 15, in the initial planning of the story when I was not going to do revelations for the characters, I wasn't sure of having Chisato take control of Naoya and fight Masao but instead I was going to have Masao succumb to Chaos and actually willingly fight Naoya over Maki's affection. I decided not to, because I preferred the best buds relationship better and I couldn't really see Maki functionally being a great wedge between them especially since I planned forever that Naoya would only love her platonically. Kind of like a Mulder and Scully relationship. While our Nao and Mark are a true "got your back no matter what" relationship.

Either way I hope you enjoyed this chapter of Persona: Be Your True Mind and I'll see you next time for Chapter 27: Alaya Cavern: Naoya Todo.


	27. Chapter 27: Alaya Cavern: Naoya Todo

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything._

Well, I'm thinking I'll wait a bit to upload the latest chapter. My reasoning because it is tied pretty well with this chapter, we are in the endgame after all. Everything ties to together. The final boss is pretty much around the corner, starts next chapter even. We just have one more hurdle to climb and based on the title you can guess what that is.

I've overviewed the chapters of the story and I think the only inspiration I ever gave as to why I decided to do this is because no one else did. Yes that is true, but to also note a story that vehemently inspired me was DrakeHellrath's Shin Megami Tensei I Digital Devil Story, which was a novelization of the ORIGINAL Shin Megami Tensei, the only one on the site. It was fucking awesome. To all our dismay; however I'm fairly certain it will NEVER be finished, or updated. Pretty much abandoned. You could say my inspiration almost became the status of this story. I'm rectifying that as you can see.

With that aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind Chapter Twenty Seven.

* * *

><p><em>Chapter Twenty Seven: Alaya Cavern: Naoya Todo<em>

The Alaya Shrine was no different from when they had previously visited. The plethora of cultural masks of thousands of styles and designs adorning the wall were as neatly hung and polished as they were when they set out to the Historical Society to gain the Expel Mirror. The shrine's lone denizen, remaining to the familiar golden, featureless butterfly fluttering around the newly arrived group of Persona Users.

"That butterfly!" Maki exclaimed.

Philemon's corporal form lapped them at high speeds as he usual did. Their consciousness was strung along with his flapping wings. He was hooking their minds and reeling them to his dimension. They lost themselves, to be railroaded between the unconsciousness and the consciousness.

The fourth or fifth instances in their enduring days of battle against Kandori, the Deva System, and Maki Sonomura's demons did not change the weightless drop of their worn shoes on the pearly platform with its majestic emblazonment and jutting bronze pillars. The mask deity, their compatriot that granted the exclusive fighting chance in the convoluted games of those in realms mucked with nebulous sediment mortal attentiveness could not clean, stood stiff with his coat tails fluttering as his insectoid wings had previously

"Well done in returning here." Philemon spoke clearly through his mask that simply seemed perfectly molded to fit every curve of his original countenance. "I see my faith in you was not misplaced."

"Yes, it has been quite the staunch effort on our behalf." Kei said.

Naoya gave the god a knowing look for he had not filled his companions in on what exactly transpired between himself and the rivaling gods, for he deemed it not as relevant for what they had to deal with at the time. "We have to enter the Alaya Cavern. Mai told us it's behind the shrine."

"The Alaya Cavern behind this shrine leads to the sea of all mankind's souls. All souls are born there and someday return there. Maki Sonomura's soul is about to return to that sea right now. It calls for you, my friend, Naoya Todo, and her ideal self."

"Maki and I," Naoya said.

"Why just them?" Masao asked.

"I don't believe we have the sufficient time to chatter any longer." Kei reminded.

"Pandora can act whenever she pleases." Eriko grimly said.

"Just Maki and N.T. can go then." Brown stated.

"It's settled. Unless somebody, specifically one with a yellow hat wants to argue." Yukino proposed.

Masao whistled at her. "Nah, I trust Nao and Maki both."

"Now go!" Philemon boomed, hurrying them along with an extended index finger. "Only those who have been called can enter that cavern. Work together to help the lost soul; I shall open the path to the sea of consciousness."

A brilliant flash of light made it as if they had not experienced Philemon's presence at all. As they readjusted their equilibrium in the Alaya Shrine, they pondered how dream-like each swim through the cogs and gears, how unreal the impression was.

In their knotted stomachs, they were layered in a cobalt light brimming through a tunnel opening. The displayed mask and its enclosure on the offering portion of the shrine had been drawn apart at a alarming rate, like wool curtains yanked back to unleash the intense rays of heat of a dawn's new day.

"I'm putting Maki in your hands, man." Masao calmly stated, barely perceiving the blue mineral, coral-esque structure funneling inward, compacting to a structure they had to bash throughout their dungeon crawling. A door made of lacquered wood.

"We'll be waiting here. Don't take any silly risks." Kei said with general compassion.

"I hate to be redundant, but be careful." Yukino said.

"Yes, Brave Leader, we do not know the broadness of this sea of all mankind's soul."

"Like, I miss those hardhats we wore as I kids. They were totally stylish."

Brown sweat dropped. "Hey, N.T., remember in spelunking to avoid killing shopkeepers (A/N), 'kay?"

Naoya was attempting to decide if Brown had officially cracked permanently or if he had made some obscure reference. He decided to smile and agree. "Okay, Brown…I guess."

"Then we'll be off!" Maki exclaimed. "Let's go, Nao-kun!"

As they made their way up the stairs, Naoya waited at the apex. Their departure was lacking something.

"Hey, Punk," Reiji called, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, chin in the nape of his neck, and his eyes closed.

There it was. "Yeah, Reiji,"

"Don't die."

Naoya sighed in contention. He felt comfortable as he and Maki progressed in the claustrophobic cavern.

"SO…" Brown announced. "Anybody up for some Omaha hold em'?"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

The wooden door led to an anteroom which let to the landscape of the universe. It was the same abyss present in Philemon's platform. The same all-consuming black, dotted with stars. Millions of orbs, eggs zoomed, formulating branches and bundles above Naoya and Maki's head. They glowed a healthy green. In truth, they were less like eggs, more like embryos. There before their eyes laid millions of souls. The souls of mankind birthed in their universal uterus, the placenta of the mother. The patriarchal universe, convening the consciousness of humanity; men, women, children all who they were beget from these opaque bubbles, and later accrued to individual prisms. The glistening orbs, doted on by the eyes of gods and each other, nurtured inside them who one was. They could see the fetal, matured souls slowly as the texture of their embryos washed from clear to a overcast film. The Alaya Cavern must have been an interdimensional connection to the Alaya Shrine, Philemon's guiding gauging hook to reality. Even in Maki Sonomura's paradise, the collective unconscious was a real concept in the world to mankind. Here Jung's analytical psychological thesis prowled as a covert, privy well for earth's permutation.

"_Oh my God, this is…this…what? This is where the souls, the essences of our bodies are created. Our souls are our consciousness, inadvertently confirmed by Philemon. Maki, my Maki's consciousness is her. Her life force preventing her real body from thriving is in here, somewhere._"

Maki treaded lightly, practically walking on an invisible carpet of space's abyss. A startling descent of a soul-full bubble halted her precise steps. The hazy film was defogging, revealing the all-to familiar personage of Maki Sonomura, naked as birthed, and clutching her knees to her breasts to provide herself with decency. Her skin was still the pasty, lifeless pale, her hair was still sans-trademark red ribbon, her eyes still looked through you as opposed to at you.

"Aha!" Maki exclaimed in excitement at her discovery. "Found you, real-me!"

The bubble slightly retraced its arrival path to retreat at the elated sounding coming from its occupant's mouth.

"Hold it right there!" Maki sternly ordered. "Where do you think you're running to?"

Listless in forgetfulness, the real Maki Sonomura's consciousness wanted to dismiss her summons. She floated further back to the bunches of flimsy dressed souls, away from her invited guests.

"_Damn it, Maki. Why are you running again? You wanted us to come here_!"

"There's no where left to hide!" Maki shouted.

The consciousness prison reformed its descent, its willing captive addressing herself. "Those countless bubbles," The real Maki arced her picked nails at the bushels. "Each one is a different person's consciousness. People's minds are nothing more than a fragile bubble born from this sea. I was a consciousness that should never have been born. If you'd been born first, my life would have turned out much differently."

"_If Maki was…born as…the ideal Maki…it would have turned out differently?_"

"Stop that!" The Ideal Maki retorted. "I don't want to hear that kind of talk from my own mouth! Did you ever try to change?"

"_Maki…change? I don't know myself. I've known her bubbly side for all our years, but it she had such internal conflicts especially six months ago, I don't know if she truly would change herself. I don't know if I could truly change MYSELF. I'd like to believe I did, but really have I. I speak openly now, I led my class to stop a madman. Is that change or just adaptability? Am I even still myself anymore, with the Alignment Dogma dictating my rationality. Does deciding your choices are for the better interest of everyone actually indicate I am a changed person or am I only pretending to be changed for the sake of fulfilling the Alignment's balance? In that case, who am I if I'm not pretending? I'm not Naoya Todo._"

Irked at the non-answer, the idealized Maki asked again. "Answer me! Did you ever try to change?"

The crestfallen real Maki Sonomura flipped her split-ends and halfheartedly nodded.

"How," Ideal Maki demanded, garnering a momentum. "All you did was hide under the sheets and cry! I saw it! I felt it! I did it myself! But now's our chance! We can change along with Masao-kun, Kei, Eriko-chan, Ayase-chan, Brown, Yukino-chan, Reiji, and…Nao-kun. Doesn't looking at those guys make you feel like nothing is impossible? They all have dealt with challenges! They have all changed! You can change, me! You just have to get over yourself!"

The real Maki closed her mouth, looking right through Naoya and Maki.

"I changed! I decided I won't run away anymore. I'll own up to the mistakes I've made! If I can, you can!" The Ideal Maki shouted.

She licked her lips, skeptical to speak. At her reply, she pushed a trinket passed the subtle surface. "You should take this. You can use it to enter the gates to the Avidya World, where Pandora is."

Naoya went long for the real Maki thrust it at his direction. He narrowly caught the shining object in his hands and as he had suspected it was blue compact, the final compact needed to fight Pandora.

"I…really didn't want you to see me this way, Nao-kun." The real Maki said in contrition at her childhood friend.

"Maki…" He said.

She faded into space, joining the vacillating sprouts. "That's why I hid my true mind."

"_She's gone,_" Naoya gripped the compact coarsely. "_She hasn't changed. Maki…Maki's never coming back. Guess Naoya Todo doesn't always keep his promises. Guess I have changed, I am no longer the true mind of Naoya Todo._"

Ideal Maki gazed at the compact, compressed in Naoya's strained knuckles. "I wonder if what I was trying to say got across. Well, all I can do now is keep believing in myself."

Naoya agreed weakly. "Let's go back to the others…Maki."

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Naoya now was the lethargic dweller of the Alaya Cavern. His motions inert, his spirit weary of the constant contrary adulation the world carpet bombed them with. The wooden door leading to the utterly pointless anteroom wasn't even germane to him despite he had to exit it, despite the fact the anteroom had not existed in the cavern road when they entered.

Maki nervously shifted. "Nao-kun, this wasn't…"

"_Who cares, bizarro shit happens in this place, I'm used to it and I don't even live here._"

Bleeps and bloops, smacks and crashes, jazzy and urbane music, a scintillating screen glistering around a figure sat at the mechanical cabinet. A figure dressed in a uniform of drab gray, seated at the stool in front of the powered arcade cabinet adjacent to Naoya and Maki. He was male, based on his build. His hair was noticeable for it was wavy, a mess in eight ways, colored jet black.

"Who's there? Nao-kun someone's here!"

"_Of course someone's here._" He grabbed the handle of his katana. "_I suppose he's gonna try to kill us. A minion of Pandora's needlessly placed to prevent us from taking the last key. A block we had to sidestep without becoming enervated to the point of defeat. Typically for this place,_"

The figure craned his head over his shoulder to hear the racket of Maki's squirrelly voice.

"No way," She gasped.

Naoya fumbled his katana into the scabbard. "What the hell?"

"Is that…Is that…" Maki was problematic in admitting the fact. "Is that Nao-kun?"

The identical face and single hoop earring of Naoya Todo returned his attention to the arcade cabinet, finding the gratis product of a fighting game more entertaining than a clone standing in the middle of his room.

"There are two…of me!" Naoya spat. "What? How,"

"Why is he here, Nao-kun, and why is he playing games?"

The bleeps and jostling of a control stick was met with a groan. "Could you shut up for a second?" Naoya Todo's voice from the entity at the arcade cabinet asked, vexed. "Who gives a damn what I do?"

Maki was offended. "Are you really Nao-kun?"

"That's right. I'm Naoya Todo, my friends call me Nao, but you can call me anything you want. Everyone else already does." The clone at the arcade cabinet said matter-of-factly. "I'm a second year at St. Hermelin High School."

"You can't be me." Naoya snapped. "_I'm me! I'm Naoya Todo!_"

"Don't believe me? Want me to tell you my height, weight, and favorite girl?"

"Huh?" Naoya replied. "_What the hell is he on about? He can't be me, that's impos…no its not is it? Why can't there be two mes…there are five Maki Sonomuras._"

"I'm you." The shadow revealed a second stool. "Have a seat. Let's play a match. You'll see your skills against you."

"Yeah, we'll see about that." Naoya sat firmly on stool. "_Even if he's a part of me, he is NOT the true me! Like the Ideal Maki in this room is not the true Maki Sonomura. The Maki Sonomura who refused to change, whose consciousness we just left,_"

Naoya took the second player joystick in the crux of his index and ring fingers, placing his right hand over the trios of punch and kick buttons. "Groove on Fight (A/N), huh? We both have similar tastes at least."

"_I feel like I haven't played this in years. It's only been about three days, but this stress-reliever is something that I, the real Naoya Todo, require. This is my anti-depressant. This is my pain-relief! Awesome,_"

Naoya selected his pair of characters to play as, including a shinobi with wild orange hair named Hizumi Yukinoue and the goggle-wearing Larry Light. Player one mirror matched player two.

"_He's trying too hard to be me. What's his game? What's the purpose? If I could sense his breathing…I lost it…I can't hear Seimen Kongo again either. What is wrong with me? I'm devolving. If I'm truly changing from Naoya Todo, it is for the worst._"

The match begins and Naoya lied on player one the classic fireball motion. To his chagrin, player one, waiting with baited breath for the artificial bell to ring retaliated with the same motion. Naoya sneered, rushing his opponent down, jumping diagonally left to cross his opponent up, but the two characters met their heavy kicks in the air, bouncing one another back. The two dashed at each other, inputting a light punch, heavy kick, middle punch combo that normally would have opened up the opponent for bigger damage or left Naoya sitting to be punished, but they mirrored exactly as if the same presses of the button were inputted on player one's side. Naoya frustrated, rolled his stick in the iconic dragon punch motion, but the animation his character was performing was canceled for he saw the opponent perform a similar motion, the starter was feint for the classic fireball to come out. Accept the string for the bread and butter was met with the similar sneaky tactic of canceling and attacking. Half the time had depleted and neither player had landed a blow.

"Damn it!" Naoya cursed. "What the hell?"

"I told you. I'm you."

"No!" Naoya wanted to break the arcade stick, his stress-relief simply piling on greater exacerbation. "You are not me!"

The screen went dead at Naoya's rejection. "Huh?"

"I know everything you've done up to now, and the kind of person you really are." His shadow relayed.

The arcade cabinet's display tuned itself, not unlike the portals of the future Naoya paid witness to in the realm between consciousness and unconsciousness.

"What how can this…"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Yukino, Kei, and Masao pushed into the doors to the lobby. Naoya heard the dry, sinewy thuds of the limping zombies. He looked to the doctor and then down the hall they'd previously fought the horde in, more crowds of silhouettes projected on the tan walls.

"Nao! Hurry up! They're coming!"

Naoya clenched his teeth, putting his arms under the doctor's in a full-nelson. He grunted, dragging the doctor to the lobby. "You may be on the path to death, but I'm not leaving you to be zombie chow!"

Naoya fully dragged the bleeding doctor into the carpeted lobby floor. Kei and Masao slammed the doors shut.

"You kids go! I'll prop my weight on the door. I'll hold them back until I go. You four, please, stay alive."

Naoya helped the doctor against the door. The doctor let out a grunt of pain.

"We can still help you." Naoya said.

The doctor shook his head back and forth. "Go, son, I've lived my life. You four still need to live yours. So, I ask you again, please go and let me save your four lives in my final moments."

Masao and Yukino grabbed Naoya by the arms, struggling to pulling him through the automatic doors.

"No! Let me go!"

"Come on, you heard the doc, Nao."

"Naoya, I'll hit you over the head and carry you out on my back if I have to." Yukino threatened.

Naoya stopped his tussling. The handles of the door, racked back and forth. The doctor averting their accessibility.

The doctor coughed blood on to his shirt, speaking to Naoya. "Thank you."

"**Remember this**?" The shadow of Naoya Todo asked. "**You tried to save the man, heedless of your own safety.**"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Kandori growled in detest. "Ngh! What's happening? GRAAAH! I'm disappearing, Nicolai! What's happening?" The devious man demanded.

"It's over, comrade! You and I are going down together! For your treachery, for your crimes, for all mankind…you will atone! The Deva System hasn't been fully calibrated to fire twice in a row!"

"Nicolai, you swine! How dare you betray me?"

"Outside, young ones! If we are reduced to our component atoms, the system will stop! The barrier enclosing the town will be released! The demon will be gone! Leave us and escape! We will both perish, but this town will be set free from this tyrant's control!"

"You out there! Boy! The one with the earring! Stop the system!"

"C'mon, old man!" Masao sliced the door with his axe again. "You don't have to throw your life away!" Masao threw his head back, looking Naoya dead in the face. He was standing by the controls with Maki.

"Nao, let's save him! There's no need for the old guy to die just 'cause of Kandori! We'll smack down Kandori ourselves! That's what we came for, isn't it, Nao?"

"Masao, wait!" Kei retorted. "The old man must have invented the Deva System. He's taking responsibility. We should respect his wishes, Todo. We don't even know how to stop the machine."

"Nao-kun!" Maki called. She pointed to the console labeled with Dimensional Variable Accelerator System. "Here! This machine has two buttons! The blue increases energy output, but the red one is the emergency stop! If you push it, we can save him!"

Kei's eyed her, astonished. "Maki? Where did you learn that?" he shouted.

"I don't know how I know! I just don't know!"

Naoya hesitantly looked back and forth at Maki, Kei, and Masao. He shifted his gaze to Yukino, Brown, Eriko, and Ayase.

"Come on, Nao!" Yukino spat. "The answer is overt! Let the bastard die!"

Brown twiddled his thumps. He was sweating. "FUCK, N.T., this is way too much for me! I can't decide!"

Ayase's hand folded behind her head, the whip curled up in her right hand. She parted her lips. "Like, I don't know. If you ask me, they both deserve it."

Eriko spoke up next. "Naoya…you're the leader you have to make the decision? Quickly, please!"

"Nao-kun! Hurry!"

Naoya's grabbed the sides of his head, his hair straggling between his fingers, his nervous tremors taking over, the cold sweat beading.

Naoya went to the switches. "Red or blue, what's it gonna be, Nao-kun?"

Naoya spotted the red button and slammed his hand hard on it.

"**And here, you chose to save an old man at the risk of losing Kandori.**"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Reiji approached Naoya, his chain casting that subtle jangle and his shoes' taps on the concrete, grabbing Naoya's attention. He towered over the Ebony-haired boy, looking down on him with his weapon dangling from the carrying strap behind him. His eyes were drilling into Naoya. Naoya kept his composure, gulping, trying to maintain eye contact.

Reiji spoke first. "Well, if I'm joining your puny brigade, I'm leading the pact." Everyone else stopped their shuffling around into formation. "I watched your performance against that rat and it wasn't impressive. If that's the kinda strategies this punk's leadership displays, then I'm taking over!"

Naoya scowled, opening his mouth, but Masao spoke first. "Like he-"

Naoya cut him off, a scathing edge to his exclamation, "Like hell you are!"

Reiji half-smiled. "Didn't we already have this dance back at the S.E.B.E.C. Building?"

Naoya's fingers touched the hilt of his sheathed katana. "It hasn't even started!"

Reiji grinned even farther, wagging his finger to his right cheek. "Give me your best shot then punk! I dare ya! Make my d-" To everyone's surprise Naoya planted a burly jab to Reiji's cheek, sending him flailing backwards to the ground.

"If it's a fight you want, IT'S A FIGHT YOU'RE GONNA GET!" Naoya's hand darted across his face, Reiji recovering, a scarlet mist swallowing him up.

"Bring it on!" Reiji swung an uppercut in the air, the similar scarlet mist blanketed him as well. "HELL YEAH!"

"HERE IT GOES!"

"PERSONA!"

The battle moved to Naoya listening to Philemon on his platform.

"Yes, Naoya, I am sorry, but there is no-"

"SHUT UP! I don't care what you have to say anymore! I'M DONE! I refuse to take part of this! If my mind is at stake…if I'm not going to be the real me again, because I'm stuck by my own innocent thoughts, I want nothing at all to do with you, your competitor, or this Persona! I WANT IT GONE!"

"Naoya…I'm sorry again, but…the way to fully dismiss your Persona ability is to grant it to someone who doesn't, yet holds the potential to use it. Currently, there is no one in this counterfeit world that has the potential. You cannot remove it."

"Then, I'm stuck with it! DAMN IT ALL! Forget it, I'm done! I'm sick and tired of being ordered around by you and your enigmatic garble! I refuse to lead this group and I refuse to ever use this Persona again! I'M THROUGH PHILEMON! DONE!

The scene transitioned to Naoya speaking with Igor in the Velvet Room.

"You thought of everyone else, yes? Not only your own self. That is the key, Naoya Todo. Remember your free will, remember your friends, see beyond the basic concepts of good and evil, and most importantly be human. I wouldn't know the feeling, so I cannot be the one to give you advice on that." Igor jested.

Naoya laughed a little. It felt nice to laugh after yelling for such a long time. "I think I can feel this Neutral Alignment, all ready?" Naoya stood up straight, the stressfulness apparently completely removed from his being. "Igor can you give a message to Philemon for me."

"Yes, I can, Naoya Todo."

"Tell him…sorry…for taking a swing at him. I was pissed off, fed up with unanswered questions. Tell him, I'll help him. I'll use my Person and lead my friends against Kandori and his competitor, but not for his sake, not for my sake, not just Mikage sake, but for my friends."

"**Asserting one's belief in the face of danger, it isn't easily done.**"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Four mechanical supports displayed a large orb of endless blue. Inside was various cogs and gears which focused in on a pinch that showed the sky's view of the new age S.E.B.E.C., Kandori's Deva Yuga. This was the portal and erected next to the supports was a station with necessary controls attached to the panel to manipulate the portal to do what it needed. They had found their way home except the portal was guarded by a demoness, draped in a swaddling cloak, and worn face. Tears were fresh from her blackened eyelids. Her eyes were emerald, smudged and muddied. Her hair was brown shaggy and a horn akin to a rhino's protruded from her widow's peak.

"Tch…so it was a trap after all!" Masao yelled, disappointed. "And Maki isn't here?" He hissed, nostril flaring, cheeks reddening. "Let's do this, Nao!"

"Maki..? Oh, Maki, I've finally found you. You're safe…" The demon scurried her feet towards Maki who was readying her arrow.

"That voice! It is Aunt Setsuko!" Naoya stated, completely sure with it not becoming muffled.

"I've been looking for you all this time…Please come to me, Maki…" She reached with her arms at Maki, who was reluctant to release the string in her fingers, off-put by the human voice the demon had instead of the usual demonic tone she had encountered before.

"Is it right to leave Maki be, brave leader?" Eriko asked, posing her rapier in the case they were to strike the demon approaching Maki.

"Kirishima's right, we should destroy that demon!" Reiji added, winding up for his uppercut.

"But that voice…that's Aunt Setsuko. I'm dead sure…" Naoya was hesitant.

"If it is really her mom, Nao, why does she look like that?" Masao's axe never lowered. He was not going to back down easily unless Nao told him to.

He sheathed his katana raised his arms to his sides. "Everyone put your weapons down!"

Maki anxious fingers loosened the taunt string of her bow, laying the arrow into it's quiver. Masao reluctantly tucked away his axe as Kei did with his broadsword and Eriko with her rapier. Ayase yawned, not bothering to roll-up the whip. Brown rested on his spear, tired of carrying it as well. Reiji hooked his thumps on his pockets and Yukino put away her razorblades.

With their ways of assault or attempt to assault discarded or lacking a violent presence, the demon with Setsuko's voice reacted. In a bright flash of light that mirrored Aki's magic casting, the demon's form was gone. The light dyed and resting on the ground, evenly laid and not sprawled, was Setsuko Sonomura, her glasses on, her brown blazer off, and only dressed in her black shirt and pants. Maki's mother rose awoken from a dream and the cowl of the phony demon.

"**You had vision enough to see through to the truth. You see not only with your eyes, but also with your heart.**"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Kandori sharply exhaled, addressing Naoya. "You, boy…I haven't heard your answer yet."

Naoya was grinning as if invisible feathers were tickling his sides. His answer was readied to be launched again on this journey.

Kandori scowled. "Damn it, boy! What are you living for? Answer me!"

"I live Kandori to find my reason to live. It doesn't matter if life is worthless or sickly sour to you, finding your reason to live, your own personal motivation to carry on especially when you reach the top, achieve your dream, is part of living."

"**This man's soul was sick with doubt, but you were able to soothe his soul's torment. You could do this because your own soul was free and clear of doubt.**"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Naoya grinned mirthlessly, wishing Seimen Kongo was there just to comfort him in his decision. "I'm sorry," The competitive deities listened intently at the despondent Naoya. Is his answer hedonistic or objective? "I'm sick of this counterfeit world; everything is so goddamn black and white. It pisses me off." Naoya scowled, bitterly sighing.

Nyarla chuckled. "Rather out of character, aren't you boy?"

"SHUT UP!" Naoya snapped. "You smug bastard…you think you've won, right? You think asking me to go to your side makes you the winner of this game?"

Nyarla nodded at his clever plan. "Yes, boy, if you die, I win the game, if you join me, I win the game. Either way victory over the ineffectual Monarch and his plagues of guinea pigs is mine. I am invincible!"

"Like I said, I'm sorry," Naoya gave a half-smiled to the Philemon, whose posture suggested nervousness. "As my best friend Mark would say, since you know us so well, 'you can take your offer and blow it out your ass!'"

Philemon chortled, Nyarla irate. "WHAT, BOY?"

"I'm not siding with you."

"YOU'D RATHER SIDE WITH HIM?" Nyarlathotep accusingly pointed at his competitor.

Naoya shook his head in disagreement. "No, I'll help Philemon beat you for my own reasons. My own personal purpose, not because it's the right thing to do for me, because it's the right thing to do for everyone! Forget chaos and forget law, I choose the middle, Nyarlathotep! I chose the NEUTRAL!"

"**In the face of death, you chose to think of others, refused to be revived for the sake of those around you. You are a selfless man.**"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"STOP IT!" Maki screamed surprisingly through the mask. The faceless being had a gargantuan vocal range.

"Stop lying! Stop playing sympathy with me! You know it in your hearts, that I am a terrible human being! You know it, don't you, Nao-kun? You know I'm the worst girl alive!"

Naoya shook his head immediately, giving the brunette an answer he had given her in another form. "Don't hide like that, Maki."

"**You answered well. It's easy to run from one's problems, yes, but the further you run the more you resent yourself. You know all too well.**"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"Get it now? I'm every inch like you. I'm you…and you're me. We are two sides of the same coin. No, not just two, there are tens of thousands of "you"s inside yourself."

"_How can he know my choices? All the choices, even the ones the others could not have possibly seen. I have changed during these past days, but I still am myself. I feared I was another person. I feared my true face was becoming distorted, that the Alignments, the Persona, the many selves within myself were changing me, but my choice, they were all mine weren't they? I was not under the influence of Chaos or Law when I chose to save Nicolai and Kandori or when I wanted to risk my life to save the doctor back in the Hospital or when I told Nyarlathotep to get bent even when I was insanguinating, but I still attacked Reiji in Chaos, later on I drew my sword to his throat…for Eriko's sake! I almost lost it when Eriko was burnt by Suzaku, if Maki hadn't revived her…I would have…I would have lost myself to Chaos…I'm sure."_

"Someone seems to be aiming to take your place, but that won't happen. Your will is rooted nice and deep. You have a good grip on yourself."

They stood from the cabinet. "You have the keys to awakening the Ultimate Persona in your soul. Just don't forget. The "me" you see here is still you. As long as you're aware of it, you'll be fine. You're one strong guy."

"_I'm one strong guy? Why am I strong? I've lost control of who I am. That is if I really am me. Maybe this…this shadow is the Naoya Todo and I'm the fake! Maybe I'm a figment of my own psyche like the ideal Maki! Maybe the real Maki switched us, created this one! What does a thousand selves within me mean? What does seeing him as me mean? Does it signify I am many people or that many people are within me? Yes, the bonds I have…are in me. My many masks to protect myself from the world are in me, the facets of myself, the faces I show to my friends, to my enemies, to my family, to the world. The masks I used to hide like a turtle, afraid of communication, afraid of speaking. The bonds I hold, Maki, Mark, the others, they helped me…I changed…the masks I wore to deflect my cowardice…I didn't need them anymore." _

"_Maki, she was…no…she is my friend, we survived using each other for happiness and company. Mark defended the silent kid, I can't repay the debts I owe him, but I can watch his back for all he's done for me. The defense he has provided for my mask. Eriko never questioned her belief in me, she gave me confidence and cheered me to be a confident leader. She made me a confident leader. My decisions, they have got us this deep haven't they. We are all still alive. Kei, we never spoke much, but he saved us from a walking disaster. His tongue was sharp, he buttressed me, always kept us on track, took over when I was unable. Brown and Ayase, I can't say I spoke much to these two either, but both have changed. The ambiguous disastrous duo changed and perhaps in my soul I felt that and recognized I also changed. Yukino looks out for everyone like Ms. Saeko. She cared, when she came to St. Hermelin and changed her personality drastically, our well being was number one. She guarded us, even in the Ideal World, she saved us. I have to thank her, it's the sanctity she provided that allowed my mask to crack. Reiji, he tested me, just as I tested him. He didn't kill Kandori. I was capable of leading. The two souls whiskey soaked in Chaos have shifted away. We changed. Yes, we did. Reiji lost the Chaos lost his hatred of Kandori. He let him live. I lost the Chaos lost my doubts. I lead us to the end of the board._"

"_I may have stumbled in the worst side of the balance, but I'm here though. Not the Chaos, not the Law, me. I am Naoya Todo, the Neutral. I lapsed in Chaos, but…my friends always brought me back to who I am. They are me! I told Kandori that to his face! My friends are me. I live for them, that is my purpose. I'm the middle; I don't drift to the left or right side. I pave the way for both to merge. I am the leader, I am me, and this Naoya Todo is me. I changed myself, but I cannot change that fact. My shadow is me, my friends are me, the innumerous masks resting in the sea of my soul are me. I accept this, for I am unable to change it. My name is Naoya Todo, my friends call me Naoya, but you…you can call me whatever you want…for everyone else already does._"

A shatter of glass was heard in Naoya's mind._** "Thou art I and I am thou! Thou hast proven thyself worthy of the power of the Emperor! Thou hast had a revelation of the heart and demonstrated leadership, hardship to achieve what you desire, and understanding of fate and life's uncontrollable nature! Thou hast earned his Ultimate Emperor! Seimen Kongo hast become Amon Ra, the King of All Gods!"**_

"Per-so-na…" An aura of milky white energy erupted around Naoya, surprising the entranced Maki.

The blue ape-like protection god, Seimen Kongo, appeared behind his User, his arms crossed. "_**Goodbye, Myself**_. _**I am glad your have quelled the wind of turmoil inside your soul without my inner counsel.**_"

"Partner, wait," Naoya was staring at his Persona, both enveloped in their Neutral energy.

"_**Do not be sad, Myself. I enjoyed our bond, but you have grown stronger in your heart. You are a true Emperor, and thus you do not need me as your Persona.**_"

"No, what if I doubt myself again? I need you to help me, to synchronize with me."

"_**No, Myself, you do not need my help. You have proven it yourself. You were able to guide your heart correctly. You are a changed man. I came to you as a boy who needed my protection and I leave you as a man who knows what path he is on. Farewell…Naoya Todo.**_"

Naoya shut his mouth as his Persona moved his hands to the sides of his countenance. "See ya…Partner. Farewell…Seimen Kongo."

Seimen Kongo removed his face, a mask for a mask, and the room was cramped with a blinding light. The sheen devoured Naoya. His body assimilated the energy, lapping at it, slurping it, unloading the epic eddy of power, to the point of engorging his soul's container.

Naoya saw the card in his mind, having taken in his Ultimate Emperor. "_Seimen Kongo…he was right. I know what path I am on. I can walk by myself. I can lead my friends to what we desire. I accept the uncontrollable nature of life. I am a follower of the Emperor Arcana and I have earned my Ultimate Emperor._"

"You awakened to your Ultimate Persona, self. Congratulations!" Naoya's shadow smiled the original returning it while Maki was aghast.

"Thank you." Naoya said the apathy purified.

"You're welcome." His shadow replied. "Hurry up and go. Your friends are waiting."

The two shared a mega watt grin, flicking their ear rings together.

"See ya, self," They both said.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

* * *

><p>AN: Groove on Fight is the actual description of the game cabinet in the game. It is a fully Atlus developed arcade fighting game. In Japan, it's referred to as Goketsuji Ichizoku 3: Groove on Fight, in English speaking countries I believe the title of the series was translated as Power Instinct, but the third game was labeled as Groove on Fight. Brown made a Spelunky reference, where in your spelunking travels if you kill a shopkeeper, all future ones in the run will want to kill you.

I don't know what to say for this chapter, gonna be honest. The first scene was abrupt and shallow, because I can't do much with the interactions between Philemon and the gang anymore. It was put in the game probably just to give a reason that you could only take the main character and Maki into the dungeon. Why is there a dungeon filled with demons that connects to the literal collective unconsciousness, the birthing canal of all the souls in the world in the Persona Universe, who knows. The devs probably just wanted to give you the opportunity to level up Maki who had been out of the party for basically a dungeon.

The whole Naoya's shadow scene CAN occur in the Alaya Cavern dungeon in game. It is a room you can go into and have the scene play out pretty much exactly the same accept for him offering Naoya a match. I added that scene, because my Naoya always wanted to go to the arcade in the story when he was feeling down, so this was his chance and also gave me the opportunity to really show you that he was Naoya and not just a faker or a figment. He does show all the choices in the game though, the right choices you HAVE to make. Saving the nurses, in my story's case trying to save the doctor. Saving Nicolai from killing himself just to kill Kandori. Telling Chisato even when everyone but the mc and Maki are turned to stone that Maki's painting is better, in my story's case Naoya's decision to stop working for Philemon for he did not feel right with it only to enviably change his mind. Not engaging Setsuko in battle in the Haunted Mansion. Telling Kandori, you live to find your reason to live. Telling Maki not to hide. Of course, since I added the additional scene of Nyarla trying to sway Naoya to his side with threat of completion of death, I had to put the scene in between. It is an important part to his character after all. He has the chance to live, he doesn't know Reiji is gonna shoryuken up outta the floor, he accepts death for the sake of his friends, for the sake of humanity, for the sake of those future characters. For some reason the game doesn't count your choice of why you live to Mai as a determining choice though I believe if you do not answer that you can't even get to this part of the game.

To the subject of Naoya, and his shadow. The purpose of the shadow is to say, you know, the main character is the avatar for all the players of the game, that is why he is playing a game when you find him in the Alaya Cavern. (If you make all the correct choices as well, he gives you the items needed to fuse the party's Ultimate Personas BTW.) It's a very meta moment and that was the point and meaning behind the thousands selves. Since I decided to not make Naoya a silent protagonist, but use the characteristic as a part of his development I couldn't use that excuse, I had to have all the things Naoya has done culminate to his revelation. Like Seimen Kongo says he does not need a Persona to help guide him any longer, he can do it himself because his relationships have established his identity. He no longer requires a mask to wear to be himself he can do it all on his own. I technically have a little more to add to that but it is for the epilogue. Now, Nao has his Ultimate Persona, he is on a new path of life, he no longer is struggling with the Alignments, he is no longer struggling if he was his true self. He knows now, if he ever falters and wants to put the mask on that he doesn't need it anymore.

I think it ties in with the entire games theme of wearing masks. Philemon has no face, the main character has no identity. The real Maki hid herself behind a mask to her friends. Chisato hid her true intentions behind the Harem Queen's façade as symbolized by the moles. The ideal Maki hid herself from the others, because she didn't want them to see her for she believed she was as bad as the deeds done, therefore she loses her face. The Alaya Shrine is basked in a plethora of masks and technically hides the truth about the consciousness and personality of everyone in the Persona universe. Tsutomu wears a mask. In the Snow Queen quest, Ms. Saeko is possessed by the Snow Queen Mask which instigates the whole side quest. During the quest you see a young Kandori and a Maki who both wear masks as faces and sympathize with the Snow Queen's cause. Kandori hides his neurosis behind his corporate facade. SEBEC is a place that is meant to advance the world but in truth behind closed doors wants to destroy it. Setsuko is disguised as a demon, masked as a harmful being, when the exact opposite is the truth. That's not even included the personal back stories I gave each character that also tie in to the theme. Ayase's fake face to prevent the anxiety, Brown's goofball ego-maniac front when inside he knows he's lonely and pathetic, Yukino's tough girl face when inside she is more a tender heart and sometimes worries she can't feel for others, Reiji uses his harsh exterior to somewhat hide the concern and gentleness of his bountiful, new friendships, Kei is Kei in the game, he always hides the more sensual proclamations behind the intelligent, blunt words.

As for the exact understanding and existence of the shadow of Naoya Todo, well…I don't know. Its kinda of one of those moments where the game just wants you to take it as face-value. For the record, the same writer for the scenarios in this game also wrote the P2 dualogy where Shadows also appear and are better down in terms of presentation and explanation as to why in those games. (They're a hell of a lot better in developing the characters they represent than Persona 4's cheap plot device Shadows too. Oops, fired some shots, gotta back paddle)

Either way I hope you enjoyed this chapter of Persona: Be Your True Mind and I'll see you next time for Chapter 28: Avidya World.


	28. Chapter 28: The Avidya World

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything._

Note: I wrote this before the comment was displaying correctly.

Okay before I do the standard author notes, I just…have to show this. For some reason this isn't in the review list but I received an email notification and if people want to see the proof of this guest's comment I'll show it. The guests name Yu's Got Swag. So, already he's miffed my tender. The comment was posted on chapter one according to the email and I quote "i don't understan, are these OCs or something?" Just…I can't say if this is serious or a troll or simply deliberate ignorance, but either path, this statement is why the Megaten community is in a war-filled friction and why PQ, part of that blatant milk-fest of tired characters that are as redundant as Rocky films, will never have P1 and P2 characters. This and Katsura Hashino with his anime tropes, bland characters and "borrowed" premise of Diamond of Unbreakable, you know, without the awesome, will say he won't use Tadashi Satomi and Koji Okada works out of respect but he's completely alright with using Igor as a Philemon substitute, lampshading Philemon as a save point in 4, making vague cameos and references in P3, and of course using shadows from Innocent sin and Eternal Punishment. Oh but they're different! They have yellow eyes instead of red eyes! And they're used as cheap plot devices to fill the repetitions anime feel of 4, which ignores the main plot of a murder mystery, as opposed to simply telling us more about the characters and serving as a genuine obstacle for they themselves to overcome and building their relationship up that have already been established in the game. Also to get on with the other long winded stuff. I swear to god if the malevolent entity isn't revealed to be Nyarlathotep in Ultimax or Persona 5 has a single hint of the P4 cast on the property, the waifu-ist are bad enough in making this game not be set in a prison so we could officially confirm Hashino takes ideas from Jojo and call it a day, I couldn't even make a threat to the fact. It will only piss me off further that P3/P4 having consumed Atlus, turning them into a somewhat scummy company with their bullshit, day-one, on discs DLCs, and further serve to phase out the more mature, seasoned actual Shin Megami Tensei games. (How bout a new Devil Summoner or finish releasing Break Record for Christ sake Atlus or capitalize on that Devilizer trademark soon to confirm the brand new spin off. And Intelligent Systems, let's see some Fire Emblem x Shin Megami Tensei updates, please. Because I'm sure everyone is looking forward to the game that is Etrian Odyssey with Persona flavor, the shitty rhythm game, Blazblue/Guilty Gear persona rendition edition part deux, the remake of the anime based on the game based on the remake of the game, and the big 6th entry which the native speakers have to wait till Christmas the US until whenever they want in 2015 and Europe indefinitely, probably a perpetual limbo.)

That time again for the newest installment of this project. After that double bill, feature redux, whatever you'd like to refer to it as last time. I most likely took a recharging break, because I'm gonna be honest with you, the linearity of this story is killing me. It is physically draining at times to persevere through chapters. This one won't be as bad, but it will still be a problem I'm sure. I'm gonna want to shoot my own foot again when the epilogue rolls around, because I'm gonna have to provide the game's actual conclusion to coincide with all the personal epilogues that are designed to bookend the chapters of all these characters lives, because unfortunately the likely hood of me doing that Persona 2: Innocent Sin novelization are ridiculously low, like ninth circle of hell passed the core of the earth, all the way to Charon passed Pluto, low, but if you look at that purple prose differently you may say that's like really high. Not confirming or denying anything, but after this story is done I am doing something completely different than Persona that only hasn't been started because I WANT to finish this project like I promised.

You know, I can't describe the process of actually novelizing something. I was gonna save this for the epilogue, but…frankly I need to say this. The exact process of doing this is really, as I have already said draining. If you look at the reflection of my work, you probably wouldn't see it, but granted the circumstances I really can't say I could do better. For starters, this is neither my game nor my story the game is telling, as the copyright I am required to put on each chapter informs you, I own nothing. So, when you decide to novelize something, you need to understand that. You are shaping the work someone else has done into words and descriptions. These characters, the characters you are working with, utilizing, are not your own, they are someone else's creations. Normally, in a real world situation, if a person was tasked with novelizing a film, a game, etc, they have to legitimately respect the source material. They'll be paid to deliver a product that is accurate and enjoyable. For the record, this really is not a real world situation. I was never commissioned to do this, I did it on my own free will, for me, and for others I guess because it hadn't necessarily been a big thing done before. For authors in a real world situation, if they ever get tired of the linearity, of the forced situations, of seemingly trying to put up these characters in your own design, they could just say, "Well, when it's finished, I'll be satisfied that I've done my part and ultimately earned my revenue." I don't get to say that. I can't even fantasize about shit like that, because I can never be satisfied with my work, especially the stuff I've done for this story.

If you factor in the total word count, drop maybe a thousand, two thousand words, them being the before and after author notes, I have written a 200, 000 plus word beast, which can translate to almost 600 pages in certain formats, like just imagine that. I can't even say I could remove much, if I was to go trim fat, I'd probably have it grow, because the first four chapters are terrible thanks to my frugality. Then, there's the fact, and I say this not as blame or hostage taking, that not many people are interested. Yes, there are many of you who have enjoyed, reviewed, favorited my story, put it on alerts and as I said I truly appreciated that and you guys are always a contributing factor in pushing me through bouts of aggravation, but your praise, criticism, or appreciation cannot functionally enlighten me to have fun with this story anymore.

When I write, trust me a lot better stuff than what I've served here, in my own creations, my own imagination, I'm having fun, I'm not sparse in integrity. I'm making my own novel, I'm weaving my own mystery, I'm developing my own characters. I have control and freedom, love and care, true joy in the process. I could sit back with a coke, play some rock, and get down to business. When I sit down to write this story, finish this mess, and I say this part in jest, I honestly feel the need to pour myself a finger of scotch. I'm irritable, broody, and pretty much exhausted when I sit here to do these. No amount of guilt I feel can soothe the headache I get anymore. The cognitive dissonance I previously had…dead, stone cold killed. I'm sorry for being so up front, but I can't give a fuck anymore. I know that's a brusque statement, but it's the truth. That's all I have to say.

With that aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind Chapter Twenty Eight.

* * *

><p><em>Chapter Twenty Eight: The Avidya World<em>

In the hurried return to the façade of the Alaya Cavern, the group of nine, their leader refastened with a new lease on life forgoing his fallacious insecurities, travelled the streets of the Ideal World yet again. They barged through the doors of isolation attached to the pearly white St. Hermelin of Maki Sonomura's heart. Their excursion, however delivered them the knowledge of the crumbling Ideal World. A half of the false Mikage had fallen into a voided abyss. Only platitudes staved off the lassitude as the Persona Users hustled further. Apparently, the world had eaten the facsimile inhabitance of the devastated girl's simulacrum. They met no resistance to their cavalier advancement. The grounds of the high school were vacated. Suspiciously cleared, forebodingly exorcised. They climbed through the vanished presences; the collective auras hovering in the air, choking the skies of the simulated regurgitation.

The library did not seem as far away as it did a mere hour ago. The moment their hands reached the handle, they yanked the doors apart. The slab of stone as black as charred flesh, the gateway to Pandora, their final opponent in that journey of theirs, as proudly displayed as when they first were coursed into that alternative dimension, desires of a sickly, deranged individual taken form by science and magic. And standing on the engraved slots notched for the purpose of the dignified compact keys was a shocking pair.

"Chisato…Yosuke," Maki eyes expanded farther than a nebula. "I'm so glad to see you both safe and sound!"

Yosuke, still bandaged, and Chisato, now mole-less, were situated in the library. They had headed to home base once freed off the manacles of delusions and illusions known as the Harem Queen and her Karma Palace.

"Maki," Chisato's hands clasped her breasts. "Oh good, you're safe, too!"

"Hey Yosuke," Masao called, resting his axe and shotgun on his respective shoulders. "What happened here? There's no on around but you guys."

Yosuke balanced himself on his crutch, standing from his seat at the table. "I'm not sure. It was like this when we got back. The east side of town's vanished, too. I want to know what's going on just as much as you do!"

Kei rubbed his chin. "This must be the work of Pandora."

"Pandora," Chisato asked quizzically.

"I'm sorry…both of you." Maki apologized, holding Chisato's palms in her own. "I'm at fault for all of this. It's the real reason behind everything."

To cure the raised eyebrows of the truly oblivious, they reiterated the cliff-notes.

"So that's it." Yosuke grinned, sitting back whilst resting his cast on the wooden surface.

"I promise I'll return everyone to their original world. I know there's no forgiving me for what I did, but I'm really, really sorry. If you want to hit me Chisato, I'll understand. Go right ahead."

Chisato snickered momentarily at Maki's open cheeked offering. "You're such an idiot, Maki! You're just as thick as you always been!"

Yosuke was quick to counter Chisato's non-laudative tone. "Hey, Chisato, c'mon,"

"It's me who needs to apologize." Chisato grimaced. "You called me to this world because you thought of me as your best friend, right? And I…I betrayed YOU! You've got it backwards, Maki. It's me who needs your forgiveness."

"Chisato…" Maki suddenly latched her arms to her best girl friend for dear life. "Thanks! Thank you so much!"

"OH!" Chisato was startled.

Soon Maki released her.

Chisato fixed her best friend's tousled ribbon. "Now go on. We'll wait here so we don't get in your way. Once things settle down, let's all go the amusement park together! Sound good?"

"Yeah," Maki agreed, pumping her fist.

"An amusement park, huh?" Masao mused "Might be fun to act like a kid again for a day. Huh, Nao?"

"After we pay for everyone's all-you-can-eat at Joy Street, Mark." Naoya groaned.

"Ah, crap." Masao smacked his forehead. "I forgot about that bet."

"Baby, I'm gonna document you guys' glowering for my personal spot!" Brown gloated. "You both paying up beautifully, it'll just be…wait for it…legendary!"

Ayase giggled. "Like, I'm totally in the mood for the premium plate to boys. Don't, like, "skimp out." Right, Brown,"

Brown's gaping mouth nodded with his head until a thrust push from Yukino caused him to bite his tongue.

"You mean welch, and you," Yukino's fingers grabbed Brown's scalp. "Don't encourage ignorance!"

"OUCH! Okay, okay, okay!"

"What the hell is this all-you-can-eat bet, anyway?" Reiji asked like an inside joke had been flying straight over his horizon.

Masao joined the spree of the splashing laughter as he jostled Reiji's shoulder with his stern elbow. "Long story, started this whole fiasco, pal, when it was the initial seven of us. All you gotta know, when this is put to bed and Mikage's back to normal, join us at Joy Street. Me and Nao'll be paying for the buffet."

"Join you?" Reiji scowled briefly. "You sure you want an asshole like to me to mingle with."

"You are as intimately involved in these endeavors as we are, Kido." Kei said.

"You deserve as much R&R as we'll have." Yukino added.

Reiji scoffed. "Well, we'll see, Four Eyes. We haven't exactly won yet, have we?"

Yukino slapped him on the shoulder blade endearingly. "Look for a cherry red Subaru in your driveway after this. I'll let you ride shotgun to our celebration party."

Kei's eyes shot wide. "Yukino, you…drive an automobile?"

"In this era, we call em' cars, Nanjo," Masao quipped.

Kei was flustered as Yukino nodded. "I'll take you for a drive sometime. Hell, maybe, I'll pick you up on the road to Joy Street when this is done. Unfortunately my little ol' clunker ain't on par to a chauffeuring limousine."

Kei's blush receded. "I'd be delighted to ride with you. I shall treat is as a prestigious honor."

"Jesus," Reiji scoffed. "Hope, Four Eyes, won't be drooling with sappy shit like that in the backseat."

"Oh, so, you're taking the offer?" Yukino playfully jibed.

Now it was Reiji's turn to be flustered. His feet were tap dancing. He folded his arms. "No promises."

Naoya sighed amusingly. "Somethings will never change."

Eriko sniggered as she brought her lips close to his ear. "I'll be sure to order light, Brave Leader."

"Well, _that_ is something to look forward to." He whispered in return.

"So let's hurry up and get this done, Nao!" Masao exclaimed.

Naoya nodded. "Maki, let's open the door."

"Will do," Maki cheered, breaking from her small chatter with Chisato.

Naoya, Masao, and Maki each took a place at the triangulated craters at the doorstep of the gate to Pandora's world, the world titled by the real Maki Sonomura as the Avidya World. Naoya slotted in the blue compact at the right point of the triangle. Masao smacked his green compact in left angle of the triangle. At the crown, Maki rested the third and final red compact in its properly etched place. The keys were set and now they were to be twisted.

"ERUSAER," Maki chanted commandingly. "TSYMMOM!"

The texture departed, sucked inward to another vapid corroder, rust colored, and corroded. The beckoning gesture of this Avidya World was surely intended to be a disquiet roll, but instead the blazing souls were fed further sustenance. Their final challenge awaited them and the carpet's decorations did not worry them.

"Alright, let's go, guys!" Naoya charged.

"Be careful." Chisato said.

"Just keep hanging in there. I can't do much, but I'll be rooting for you guys!" Yosuke cheered.

"The final battle," Naoya said. "in the Avidya World."

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

"Avidya," Eriko pondered. "It is a concept in Hinduism and Buddhism. It is a Sanskrit word which can translate to ignorance or delusion. In the religions Dharma and Karma scoring, Avidya is a considered as a struggle against a certain mental stricture all of us as people have to overcome. Avidya is in line with a fellow Indian cultural term. The Sanskrit word Klesha which is used in their philosophy and yoga. Kleshas are literally poisons. There are noted to be five specific Kleshas: ignorance, ego, attachment, aversion, and Thanatophobia."

"Rather prosaic." Kei commented. "The worst qualities of Maki Sonomura quarantined in this dreadful corner of her paradise."

Masao frowned, his lips tightening. "Damn it."

He was sore and sour. The disconcerting, indistinct fleshly prints and patterns on the walls and floors were not his incumbrance. The shapes of spinal cords, umbilical like structures, skulls, humanly concepts beneath tanned leather like a glamorized hell pit did not sink his soul. The idea, the fact the horrid place was the embodiment of Maki's pain, her poisons, her hurdles she was unable to overcome, was what drove the chisels at heart, carving it crudely.

"This place is too spooky for me." Brown mumbled. His former instinct would be to run and abandon, but his new mind granted him the doggedness to see his path through this nightmare.

"Like, these walls are wet." Ayase was positively green at the vicious condensation. "This is—totally—disgusting."

"Reminds me of something," Yukino said, gawking at the pinkish blends of flesh. "It be awkward to say what."

"There's the end to this tunnel, Punk." Reiji pointed to the illuminated alcove. "I'm ready to throw down. These mazes only kick me in to gear to kick some ass."

Naoya stopped, his MP5 hanging around his chest, his katana sheathed in its scabbard.

"Nao-kun," Maki said, at his halt.

"Nao," Masao added.

"Todo,"

"N.T.," Brown asked.

"Brave Leader,"

"Naoya," Yukino asked concerned.

"Like, what?"

"Punk,"

"Here we are." He said quietly. "After a few minutes in this "world" I feel like everything was building to this moment, like we were meant to do this all along with stopping Kandori. This, the Avidya World, Nicolai's research, and Kandori's rise, all of these things were bent by the will of the Crawling Chaos. Pandora was simply an unforeseen ulterior, but we were there, weren't we? We are here, aren't we? Maybe, the whole reason we were given these abilities, us specifically, was not random chance in the string of events like Philemon insisted. Maybe we were entrusted by fate to do this, to save Maki."

Silence was his choir.

"It's crazy to say. It's crazy to believe. I don't know if I really do either. I do know one thing though: we came here to save our friend Maki Sonomura. And I do believe, with you guys by my side, WE CAN save Maki Sonomura."

"Doubtless, eh," Kei commented. "Your stroll in the Alaya Cavern has awakened something within you, Todo. Either way, I'm prepared to fight until my blood stains this malignant dominion."

"This is unlike you, Naoya." Yukino said. "You are even more different than your usual self. Less uncertain, I guess. Whatever, I'm ready to show this Pandora my boot."

"Let's say this, N.T. I came here to do two things. (A/N)" Brown said dismissing Naoya's claim. "Crack jokes and save damsels, and I'm all out of jokes."

"Totally skip me, please." Ayase begged. "I'm, like, lost on words. Can't we, like, go already?"

"I've said my piece, Punk." Reiji stated. "I'll beat this Pandora, bring up Sonomura, or die trying."

"I'll do my best." Eriko asserted. "I'll be as supportive as possible. I'm certain we will be triumphant."

"I'm with, Eriko-chan, Nao-kun!" Maki added. "We can save me! I know we can, especially when you and Masao-kun are fighting for my sake!"

Masao brought his open hand to Naoya's. They high-fived and clutched each other's palm. "Let's do this, Nao. Now, or never, fate or not, we'll save her. We'll save the world, Maki comes first."

Naoya agreed. "Everything concludes here. Let's end this dream!"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

(A/N) The sight they saw of Pandora was a mortifying tremor. It appeared pleasant, Maki's rosy cheeked head, her short-cut brunette locks nicely framing her face, but the emanating light revealed the shrouded monstrosity. Flourishing behind in the wallowing darkness where pale hands with five fingers. Six arms bent and folded, relishing in a fashion of ecstasy paraded about in a rancorous hole of depth perception. The feet, caked with dirt, bare footed, hips spread indecently apart. Six curled legs overlapping one another tirelessly, pulling their curtain farther. It was then, they could decipher the pigment. They perceived the cadaver-colored flesh, drained no less the interior wallpaper of the previous corridors. The skin was dead, mutated, yet still pressing onward in muscle tension and reflex. The cavorting limbs, lifted free a torso as gray and decomposed with a pair of naked breasts deprived of their succulent feeders, heaving in sighs as the neck cracked and creaked, the skin creasing and folding as fanged teeth punctured a licking tongue passed scarlet chapped lips, and the only eyes were the cheeks of infantile buttocks, the only ears, the dangling legs, calves faces outwards towards the cone of nonvision, and only hair, the remaining petulant arms gripping the elongated neck. Sinewy, and jutting with spinal vertebrae, it was an ungodly abomination, but the worst had yet to produce itself. Maki's piked head was riveting, oscillating. The cudgel it was attached to was a phallic effigy aligned with dripping gashes of sexual lips. As the erected obelisk extended from the pelvis of Pandora, it showed its organ as a color, engorged red, imperious and public.

"SHHHHRRRRR!" An animal growl, indistinct, and inhumane funneled passed the fanged mouth.

"This is…Pandora, the final me!" Maki announced.

"That is the core of the DEVA System behind it!" Kei aimed his index finger at the cocoon messed radiating an intermittent blue flash. The cylinder was guarded by the monster known as Pandora and it met her twenty foot tall size.

Pandora's Maki head began to speak, in a voice of a shallow tone, barely whistling from the inflamed throat. "It was inevitable, I suppose, that you'd make it here…SSSHRRRRR!"

Her voice was uncaring, uninvolved, merely providing commentary on obversation while lashing its phallus underbelling as the fanged mouth echoed the sentiments. "This is the Gate to Paradise…and I won't….SSSHHHRRRRR….give it up."

The two mouths were timely howling. Reasoning repose to savage content and human understanding to animalistic snarling was Pandora's composition as the fracture of Maki Sonomura's nihilism imprisoned in a sanctuary of delusion. "I'll use it to create my true mind's paradise….a place where nothing exists."

"No, the DEVA System is not a "Gate to Paradise" at all!" Maki bellowed.

"It is akin to a Pandora's Box." Eriko explained. "It will bring evil to the world."

"Evil," Brown interjected. "It'll kill EVERYTHING, man!"

"If Pandora succeeds in using the DEVA System's key component for the dimensional variable acceleration function…" Kei paused.

Yukino gulped. "Everything will become nothing!"

Reiji scowled. "The Airhead's nihilism will have consumed reality."

"Like, what? Where'd that come from?" Ayase complained.

"We'll stop her then!" Masao exclaimed, brandishing his hatchet.

"FSSSHHRRR!" Both stretched necks whipped in frustration, then Maki's head calmly addressed her audience. "Everything is useless…utterly useless. You…me…useless,"

"You're wrong!" Maki yelled. "There is meaning to—"

"These things…before me, I do not need!" Now, the Maki head was angry, relentless is her dynamics. "Now begone from me! FSSSSSHHHHRRAAAAA!"

The animal and the human had combined intentions. They shouted in unison, their twelve limbs straining to move themselves for a harrowing attack.

"Battle stations, everyone!" Naoya ordered. "Fight till your last breath for everything's sake!"

"RWAAA!" The beast mouth retorted. "Let us die TOGETHERRR!" Maki's head demanded.

"Alright, Mark, Reiji, we're going to—"

"NAO-KUN," Maki threw her hand up high. "I can do this! It's my time to flaunt my Ultimate Persona!"

"Go for it, Maki!" Masao cheered.

"Show them, like, what you got, girl!" Ayase brokenly encouraged.

A velvet mist was expanding from Maki's body. "**Help me!**"

The freed goddess Persona materialized above Maki, her fingers entwined as she angled them towards the sky.

"**VERDANDI! Freeze to the bone!" **Maki and Verdandi swung down their arms simultaneously, winding their wrists one hundred eighty degrees.

Maki's ribbon was struggling to maintain its knot. Her eyes were steeled, her expression a sadden line as she gazed at herself, a creature epitomizing the ugliness of Maki Sonomura. "**PLEASE,** **FREE HER! ABSOLUTE ZERO!**"

The vapor in the air surrounding Pandora was charged, a frozen wave of energy engulfed her entirely. Each limb was encased. The glassy ice enveloped every inch, perfectly molded to fit. Then, a surge of frost amplified the cascading blizzard of rain, snow, sleet, hail, and icicles blowing directly through the intended target of nihilism. The chill breached the coating of ice, snow was piling. The ice was thinning to a skin-tight packaging. The snow built and raveled itself like silk and shawls, enveloping the immobilized Pandora. The winds ripped faster, the twirling blizzard constricting. The atrophying flesh was bitten, torn, and blue as the smother mound and corpus of elemental rage painfully fizzled. Pandora was left a heap of dry ice, agonizingly perforated from underneath her dead internals. She was shivering, her six arms desperately rubbing her beastly half, her legs swiftly swaddling her shrinking phallus, warming it with the fat of their calves. The ice protruded, slicing from within as grating lances.

"She's down!" Masao exclaimed.

"I've been waiting for this!" Reiji yelled, charging at the suffering Pandora with his fist raised.

"Now's our chance, Nao-kun!"

"Yes, Brave Leader!"

"For an all-out attack," Kei redoubled as he hefted his broadsword.

"Let's decimate her!" Yukino shouted, launching her razor blades.

The objects spun at a fierce velocity, hitting their mark perfectly. They shaved away the blood burst fingers. Kei's bulky stroke utilizing gravity as his reliable ally, cleaved the right set of legs from the hip. Reiji's right haymaker shattered Pandora's first kneecap on the left, letting her first leg lazily become powder. His following up left hook pried off her second leg, smashing it to pieces on the adjacent wall. He brought his leg at a vertical line and slammed his powerful axe kick through her third leg, the shards of frost merely dirtying his pant.

The gimped hands fecklessly attempted to guard the shaft retracting into the womb of Pandora.

"Denied," Brown's lacquered spear severed two left shoulders from the joint. "Five star service complements of my Rider Spear!"

"HIYAH!" Ayase's tense horizontal whip lash, splayed the last remaining left arm and the bottom right.

"And my partner's deluxe Rider Whiplash!"

"Get serious!" Masao chided, hopping on to Pandora's chest, priming his axe for a mighty chop. "Nothing beats the Rider Kick!"

"Heh," Naoya replied, slicing the middle right arm from grabbing Masao.

Eriko stabbed with her rapier passed the length of the remaining arm feebly trying to grab at the priming Masao. "With that, we've nearly won, Brave Leader!"

"Mark, drop the hammer!" Naoya signaled.

"You got it, Nao!" Masao violently chopped downward at the evading neck of the beastly portion of Pandora. He tempestuously beheaded the iced monster with impetuous Herculean strength, the snowy powder remnants briskly dusting him.

"YOU ARE USELESS! WE WILL ALL DIE HERE!" The phallic stature with Maki's head reared at herself standing far back.

The Ideal Maki Sonomura was pulling her bow string to her mole.

"Good bye…" She remorsefully apologized as she let her last arrow fly. And the last arrow soared directly between Pandora's eyes.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

The nihilistic manifestation was thunder-strucked, displaying utter astonishment as the arrow burrowed itself in its flaccid "body." It retracted, deflated, and ultimately crawled inward towards the birthing canal. The icy petrified Pandora collapsing from the exertion of tucking.

The Persona Users were gathered at the entrance again, marveling the seconds for the moment. Their victory had come quick and the DEVA System was theirs to manage.

"Damn, man, that was easy!" Masao hooted, getting ready to do his second jig of the day.

"Mark, hold on." Naoya solemnly instructed, hearing the faint sounds of rustling.

"Huh?" Masao questioned, oblivious to the slightest ping.

Reiji growled."Pay attention, Inaba!" He pointed to Pandora's deceased husk.

"Is this representation of Maki Sonomura's psyche…undergoing metamorphosis?" Kei asked aloud, startled.

"What the fuck?" Yukino swore.

"Like, uh…uh…uh…" Ayase was struggling to find the correct words.

Brown completed her thought, revolted at the sight he was describing. "Juxtaposition much,"

"It's beautiful…" Maki admired.

A sweet, girlish voice matching Maki's was heard. "Why don't you give up? Please…for your sakes…give up. Please..."

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><p><strong>Persona: Be Your True Mind<strong>

A/N: Well, _They Live _is like one of my favorite movies of all time. That quote is one of the most recognizable of all time. Brown's a clown and huckster. Yeah, why not have him say a modified quote from _They Live_. You are somewhat better off looking at the actual in game portrait of Pandora. My description is fairly accurate, but you really need to see the matured image of Pandora to grasp what I mean by abomination. Frankly, it is somewhat awkward to write about this and I was somewhat unnerved and anxious about doing this because I found it to be an almost ineffable description. I mean, the reason this story is rated M is mostly because of Pandora. It literally is a penis, with several vaginas on it, and Maki's head as the bellend. A baby's ass and legs are attached to the beastly face. The penis is coming forth from the birthing canal. I've heard some people say the actual structure is meant to be an inside-out uterus, but it still has clear vaginas on it. Doesn't matter, all that matters are it's a pretty sexualized, gruesome, borderline-pretentious first form of the true final boss.

I suppose I should explain my outburst at the top, but then I realized its pretty self explanatory and I'd just feel like I'd be backpedaling on my honest feelings. The last thing I want to be is fake so it's staying there. Also, take note, please that note the introduction was written months ago, at the end of summer. The catharsis unfortunately put me in the state of depression where I said fuck my promise again, college bearing down on me like a trial of snipers really didn't help my time management or procrastination either. Now that the vacation giving holidays are close by, alongside year end, I want to put this to bed once and for all. I cannot bare to leave this story dangling officially for three years. That would aggravate me even more while I'm trying to work on my other fics. Basically, three chapters left. This short one is complete. The other is pretty short likewise and the epilogue/final chapter is and will be however long I deem it to be, but Chapter 29 and 30 will be going up on the same day, one after the other. So, just give me some time, the last request I'll make for this story, and we will definitely be done before Christmas, and that is the last promise I will make for this story.

Either way I hope you enjoyed this chapter of Persona: Be Your True Mind and I'll see you next time for Chapter 29: Pandora.


	29. Chapter 29: Pandora

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything._

Not gonna clamber about in the penultimate introductory author's notes. Don't worry though. I'll ramble like a buffoon on the epilogue's.

With that aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind Chapter Twenty Nine.

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><p><em>Chapter Twenty Nine: Pandora<em>

Two momentous monarch butterfly wings, topaz yellow, sapphire blue, ruby red and onyx black lining the unique design, unfurled from beneath the shattered husk of degradation. Two lengthy antennae sprouted up, gently dangling from maroon and cobalt blended hair mirroring the fashion of cut as Maki Sonomura's. Her face was identical, an entrenched mauve scar, crudely star-shaped was brutally contrasted against her lime toned skin. She had a limber, hourglass figure, finely sculpted and abundantly proportioned. Her shambles birth mutated the environment. The fighting arena was cast into a psychedelic lightshow. A punitive discothèque splattering refractions and acidic swatches and smears of the rainbow layered on black and white checker board.

"Like, what happened?" Ayase asked, dumbfounded at the scenery transformation.

"I feel like I'm tripping balls, man." Brown jested.

"What's with the freaky light show?" Yukino mused.

"Did she move us with the DEVA System?" Reiji snarled.

"No! We have to still be in the Avidya World!" Eriko protested.

"Kirishima is correct. The Avidya World and Pandora are connected. We destroyed her chrysalis, her evolutionary phase, and like a butterfly she has reached a new age of species and most likely enlightenment. Hence the empirical transformation of our surroundings,"

"What the hell does that even mean, Nanjo?" Masao yelled.

"We've peeled the repressed psyche to the heart, Masao-kun." Maki answered. "We are seeing Pandora at her purest."

"Yes Sonomura," Kei confirmed. "It is almost similar to the division of Aki and Mai. The barbarous cocoon was the dress of the real Maki Sonomura's nihilism. This butterfly woman is Maki Sonomura's refined Avidya. One can infer, this was the catalyst-form of Maki's sparking cynicism."

"You can also propose the previous Pandora was the evils of the opened box called the Avidya World, and we are now observing what remained at the very bottom of the forsaken box of myth." Eriko offered.

"Hope…" Naoya said.

"Like, my heard hurts." Ayase complained, rubbing her forehead.

"So, what do we do, then?" Yukino asked concerned.

Reiji rammed his last clip in his assault rifle. "We keep fighting."

"Reiji's right." Maki said. "We must defeat every inch of Pandora to free the real me."

"I don't think, she'll let us mess with the DEVA System either." Naoya added.

"Wait!" Brown shouted. "Maybe, she doesn't want to sacrifice us to the void!"

Pandora laughed softly. "Please, give up…it is useless to oppose me…all will soon be lost…everything useless will become nothingness. Please, for your sakes, yield."

"How'd she go for the peaceful resolution, Brown?" Mark asked, sardonically.

Brown groaned, lactic acid aching him from his singular stab. "Aw man...I'm tired of battles."

"Todo, I suggest we strike at the distance we are currently in. Gaining ground to attack may be a tactical mistake given our opponents newly endowed complacence with us."

Naoya nodded at Kei's affirmation of proceedings. "Let's empty our clips then. Fire whatever rounds we got left."

The group followed Naoya's plan, putting away their melee weapons for the favor of taking up their side arms.

"Let's show this bitch how we do things down town (A/N)!" Brown exclaimed, turning his TMP side ways to unleash a swath of bullets.

"RAAH," Reiji's war cry accompanied the arrangement of his M4 Carbine's thunderous shaking as its full automatic firing rate unloading the magazines cargo.

Ayase and Maki raised and sighted with their H&K VP70 and Browning High Power respectively. They fired off their remaining clips, the handguns jumping in their hands frantically.

Yukino slotted the shells in her Ithaca and went to town.

Masao's M1100 bruised his shoulder purple. The recoil punching as vast as the scatter shot from the modified barrel.

The long barrels of Kei and Eriko's Springfield M1903 and Remington M700 waited patiently between the blares of handgun, shotgun, and automatic rifle fire to shoot free their high tensity ammunition.

Naoya cocked his MP5 and in thirty seconds shuffled his last burst of bullets at his adversary.

Bullets and buckshot tore in the flawless, precious skin, punched gaps in the marvelous wing span, warped the delicate antennae, but Pandora's face was unscathed. She was unfazed. Her blood-less finger caressed the arrow's scar inflicted by herself no less as the firing squad buried their ankles in shell cases. The hot rounds furrowed her flesh, but she no longer felt pain. In fact, she no longer felt emotion. The bullets and shrapnel lodging themselves in her artistic figure were futile. They were nothing. They had no meaning, no effect. They're wielders and firers had no meaning, no effect. She, Pandora, herself, Maki Sonomura had no effect, no meaning, except to create oblivion, surrender living Hell to succumbed nihility.

Dry clicks, discarded firearms, but the nine were as feisty and frisky. They did not understand the meaninglessness of solitude, abandonment, fraudulent succor. They refused her beseeching. Their souls were scorching, but she would blow out their flames.

"Symphony…" Pandora hissed, as the nine were rethinking their deployment stratagem.

"Of…" Her ravaged wings and savaged antennae prepared themselves for a brisk motion.

"LAMENT_…_" She cried, lashing her feelers, fluttering her wings, mangling her deformed and wounded body to a disproportionate contortion.

"What'd she do?" Brown asked, cocking his neck.

"Like, swept the floor?"

"I don't believe that is the correct answer, Yuka."

"She's wobbling. Our bullet storm decimated her!"

"No, Kido, she is nonplussed at her indecision bereft assault."

"Her vitality must be huge compared to her chump change of a first form."

"Kei and Yukino-chan are right!"

"Then, how do we beat her?" Masao demanded.

Naoya was not paying attention the squabbles of the now. He was tuning his perspective to past. He shut his eyes, permitting the quintessential third to remain open. He shut his ears to the cacophony of voices, allowing his honed sense of sound detection take control. He felt an impending condemnation. A wind of guilt as a banishing wave summoned at Pandora's will. It was aimed for the nine of them with a staggered, transparent indiscrimination! He was sure of the fact!

"Watch out!" Naoya ran in front of his friends, uncorking his power. A milky white aura of Neutral energy overflowed from him. His dam had burst and his aura consumed the entire room, overcoming the mesmerizing amphetamine induced distortions of dimension. The wave hit him hard, his aura channeling the entirety of the invisible force to the manipulator of wind. Naoya clenched his face with his right hand, frightening his friends and allies.

"Nao-kun,"

The brunt Symphony was able to breach Naoya's encroachment of aura, his comrades losing their impunity to Pandora's guilt ridden wind.

"NO!" Naoya exclaimed, the lamentations bowling through their critical essence.

Their hearts quivered as one. Their eyes strained together in a row. They trembled in grief unanimously, but it was for the shortest temporal fold. Pandora's breeze was merely that. A breeze, barely prickling them, narrowly was ruffling their attire.

Naoya's eyes shot open, tickled at Pandora's confident stoicism. "You think that was…bad…for us?"

Pandora's brow strained.

"We've dealt with worse shit than that." Masao admonished.

Her lower chapped lip was sucked in her mouth.

"Perhaps earlier in our personal Avidyas, prior to receiving a revelation of the heart…" Kei began.

"The tiniest guilt would insurrect our passion." Maki finished.

Pandora was insecurely digging at her scabbed scar.

"All of us; however, faced ourselves and our inner problems." Eriko explained.

She scratched deep enough to draw blood.

"We ain't got guilt stocked in us anymore!" Brown declared.

"We are, like, different people, now." Ayase stated.

Glistening sweat dotted her shuttering demeanor.

"We are embedded with a brand spanking new purpose of life!" Yukino exclaimed.

"Our reasons and determinations aren't paltry things you can choke and squeeze; you on the other hand," Reiji cracked his knuckles.

Pandora gulped, guarding herself. "Why won't you give up? How…how can you be so strong in this meaningless existence?"

Naoya flicked his earring, his bright white aura skirting his figure. (A/N) His friends aligned beside him, mixing their righteous velvet blue power. "The world isn't as bleak as you think it is!"

"NO!" She bemoaned at the eruption of stifling, blue, and white vivacity.

"Everyone has their own thoughts, their own faces, their own mind!" Naoya's hand shot to cover his face. "I'll make sure Maki doesn't feel you again! These are my true thoughts, my true mind!"

"HOW," Pandora covered her eyes at the glaring exuberance.

"Weren't all alone!" In Naoya's declaration, an amazing event occurred. The confines of the aura rippled acutely. The density and opaqueness cleverly slipped ghastly acreage. The nine encompassed by their utterance of internal brawn of educated wisdom, suddenly lapsed in their routinely fashioned gestures. They forewent their individualized evoking phrases to rolling open their palms before them. A inner niggling of the soul was compelling them to do as such as if they were meant to do it instinctively all along. To their showered eyes of intense effluence of the spectrum of color stole breath from their lungs as the cards enclosing their deserved and rewarded soul facets classified as their maximized protection Ultimate Personas became in their hands. The enigmatic Spell Cards called forth in the place of their renditions were veiled in glory, numerical patterned, and representationally portrayed. The welled power flowed concisely yet was brimming, thriving nearly in the confines of a concrete totem of the ability. Their Personas in their hands, asking not to be released as they would, but to be offered in inclusion. Deep within their combined consciousness, they recognized, what they themselves in a variant form, hazarded them to accomplish. The exact technique was meticulously extrapolated in their minds. Their bodies thus converting the stride to the afflicting mechanism.

"We have others who help us stand up for ourselves!" Naoya continued, the vigor renewed in his absorption.

Masao grunted, a fragile Spell Card materializing in his hand. "With Nao, my best bud, I know we can do it to it! **My** **Ultimate Chariot: SUSANO-O, the God of Seas and Storms!**"

"Others who care for our well-being,"

Yukino examined her card betwixt her index and middle finger. "All right, Naoya, give her a good kick in the pants! **My Ultimate Empress: DURGA, the Shakti Who Can Redeem Situations of Utmost Distress!**"

"Others who wish to do nothing but protect us!"

Eriko held her card to her bosom, breathing in a rhythm. "I know we can succeed…my love. Here is mine, as well! **My Ultimate Judgment: MICHAEL, the Chief of the Angels!**"

"Others who'd put their life at risk for us!"

Hidehiko swiped at the underside of his nostrils. "Come on, N.T., here, mines the greatest, of course! **My Ultimate Justice: TYR, the God of Glory and Victory!"**

"Others who want someone to be there for them,"

Ayase yawned gingerly, playfully flipping her card. "Like, take it. Get it over with already! **My Ultimate Magician: FREYR, the God of Sun and Rain!**"

"Others who have wisdom to pass on to us,"

Kei tucked his scarf in his shirt, his Spell Card in his dominant hand. "Todo, you truly are our leader. Lead us to peace. **My Ultimate Hierophant: YAMAOKA, the Loyal Butler of the Nanjo Family!**"

"Others who are rough on the outside but inside they care for us,"

Reiji flashed his canines; the bittersweet obtained Spell Card hovering in his gloveless fist. "You're the one who talked shit to me and backed it up, Punk. We ain't losing, not with mine and Alice's resolve! **My Ultimate Death: MOT, the God of Death!**"

"And others, who love us more than they can possibly love themselves!"

Maki cupped her Spell Card in solace. "Nao-kun…here….show her what we have. **My Ultimate Priestess: VERDANDI**, **the Diviner of the Present!**"

"Together we can't lose! Here WE go! **MY ULTIMATE EMPEROR: AMON RA, THE KING OF ALL GODS!"**

A bronzed man, with glistening golden bracers arose from the united front of summoning strength. His striped flowing robes hugged and strayed from his moderated frame. The hard shade of navy blue and scintillating gold stripes matched the evident Deshret discernible atop of the venerable crown of the exquisite, ephemeral emperor extremely eclipsing the laudable presence of the Egyptian Pharaoh. In his hands he wielded an oak staff, six feet in length merged with a crescent moon furnish, and as burnished as his grieves. Amon Ra's scepter boiled with a glorious sphere of force. The Spell Cards of Naoya's companies, lending their internal strength, were magnetized to this planetary conjuring. They orbited around it, leaving aerial streaks of luminescence, until they impregnated the beget sphere, bolstering intense expansion of mass with each assimilation. Particles were gathering, merging to the singularity coherently concentrated at the absence of the crescent moon adorning the King of All God's rod.

"**HIEROGLYPHIEN!**" Amon Ra slashed his charged staff, cutting through the disrupted air with precise coercion. A belt of unbelievable power surged uncontrollable forward unencumbered. A solar flare as vaunting as the suns rays using the Ultimate Persona as a conduit funneled a supreme, superseding, stream of white. The beam of expanding matter was a spring of combusting cosmos, an embodiment of irreproachable awe-striking uproar.

And as Naoya Todo's ultimate attack enveloped Pandora in a tumultuous turmoil exceeding the zephryical bedlam of his Tempest. Maki Sonomura's words could be heard.

"We're both part of Maki Sonomura. You and me, these are our friends."

"This big bang is our friendship. Let's end this together, with this meaning to life."

A dim sob was heard in the blackening white.

"Thank you…"

Thus Pandora ceased to be, leaving hope brimming in the dusked corner of a sickly girl's weeping heart.

The white settled and the aura cleared. Pandora was defeated.

"At last…it's over." Kei announced, certain in the matter.

Naoya arched his arms, excited, the cool and collected leader dropping briefly. "WOOHOO,"

"Yeah," Masao joined, tossing his own arms around the shoulders of Kei and Nao.

"That chick is toast! (A/N)" Brown hollered, twirling Ayase in her pirouettes.

"Phew…" Yukino dragged the perspiration from her pores. "Glad we are done. Cut, print, develop film, right, Kei?"

Kei was currently wedged in the middle of Masao and Naoya's gamboling. "Uh…yes….Yukino."

Suddenly, Eriko hauled Naoya from the line of joyous gyration to plant a peck on his cheek and seize him in an ironclad hug. "Oh, Naoya, we've…we've reached the epilogue! The book of our escapades is finally climaxed!"

"Eriko..." Naoya groaned, practically suffocating. Typically, he would say otherwise to her outward affection. Instead, he inhaled. "You smell nice." Which was a really perplexing scent given the laborious and arduous efforts and encounters they endured and enacted the passed three days.

Reiji walked leisurely to a crouching Maki who had kneeled and watched a piece of herself discover self-actualization or Zen enlightenment in demise.

"We won, Airhead." He said politely. "Lay on me your bubbly optimism. Cross-my-heart I won't snap."

"All of you…thank you." Maki somberly replied.

"You're welcome, Sonomura, now get off the ground." Reiji answered.

"We have to part ways now…"

Inactivity and vacuous sound from the eight's ebullience. She faced them with credence, for her nailed mask was gone. "I'll never forget you all."

"Part ways," Naoya repeated.

"Whaddya mean, part ways," Masao demanded.

"Masao," Kei grasped his hand firmly on his friend's shoulder. "She is the Ideal Maki. She is only a shadow of the real Maki Sonomura, identically to Mai, Aki, and Pandora. She can't go with us to the real world."

The Ideal Maki nodded, a grimace pinching her. "It was fun. Really it was."

"Hey! That's not fair!" Brown and Ayase exclaimed.

"Whoa!" Yukino interrupted, losing herself.

"Are we…fading?" Eriko exclaimed as she became transparent.

"Correct, Kirishima." Kei calmly said, he too fading as well as a protesting Masao, flabbergasted Brown and Ayase, startled Yukino and Eriko, and a rueful Reiji. Naoya; however, did not begin to fade.

"We are returning to our proper dimension." Kei explained, vanishing.

"Wait! Hold on! Maki—" Masao disappeared in his objection.

One by one they were spirited, expedited conveyance to the real world in the city of Mikage, all except Naoya Todo.

"Maki…"

"I sent all of them back to the real world."

"Why leave me, Maki?"

"One second…Naoya." Maki inched closer to her childhood friend's taller figure, stretching on the tips of her toes, leaving a dear kiss on the black haired boys opposite cheek.

Naoya was stiffened. "Maki…"

"Thank you, Naoya. I hope you'll still think about me…at least once in a while."

"I can never forget you."

"Goodbye…" She stuttered, unable to keep her formality. "Nao-kun…I love you."

Naoya faintly grinned, returning her present with his own upon her forehead. "I love you too. I always will, because you ARE Maki Sonomura."

The Ideal Maki smiled, tears welling as Naoya vanished in a translocation of matter as his comrades did. In transformation, the despaired galvanized moment of the Ideal Maki Sonomura's became the happiest moment she could ask to be delivered.

"Farewell…"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Philemon was standing on his platform in the verse between consciousness and unconsciousness, addressing politely the transacted souls of his chosen children. They lingered in interference, statically broadcasted back to the frequency spun to their original location, where the incidents began from where they were finitely concluded.

"Nothing more need be said. I'm sure you have all discovered by now your true selves. The smiles you wear are no longer false masks. You may find yourselves troubled or suffering or lost in the future, but there is nothing to fear. Look to your soul for your true self. No matter what trials you may face, that will be enough for you to weather the storm. Now, go forth…into your bright futures."

Philemon's soliloquy was followed with a burgeoning, respectful bow of thanks. Then, his fingers caught the butterfly side of his faceless mask. His jet black ponytail bounced as he removed his façade of protection. His eyes were a familiar murky brown, matching the eyes of a boy with an earring who helplessly slashed him with a katana. Hollowed jowls positioned to a serene expression, emulating praise and adherence. The aged face of Naoya Todo spoke.

"Congratulations. Fare thee well. Until we meet again,"

Philemon's coattails frenzied as he levitated, smiling his revealed face to the abyss of velvet blue. He was shuddered in a golden light. His severance was his dissembling Guiding substance broken to sustained monarch butterflies. They were purely golden, gently migrating from his pervading crux. Humanity was the victor in a game of gods. They no longer required a Guiding Monarch, a deity to offer a fighting chance on the curved oppression, but if the Crawling Chaos was to ever crash on the shores of the Earth's coasts in recurrence, Philemon would manifest again also, to grant his competitor Nyarlathotep, a bout worthy of their celestial wager. After all, one-sided bets are boring.

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><p><strong>Persona: Be Your True Mind<strong>

**A/N: **Do I real have to tell you the references? I can't hear you. Oh, come on, who you gonna call? Apart from Brown's two references, the scene where Naoya is abreast to everyone, the image in my head I wanted to convey was the box art for the PSP remake. It's a pretty atmospheric image and that was the inspiration for the general stance. Nothing special, but thought I'd share that with you.

Well, Chapter 29 is done. The penultimate chapter is complete. All that is left is Chapter 30 the epilogue, so I'm going to talk a bit on this chapter so that way my long winded blathering is equally spaced out. I do want to clarify first however the scene of Maki kissing Naoya and saying she loves him. Now that is a scene in the actual game. Unquestionably the intention of the authors of the game were to provide Maki as a love interest for the MC as most prominent (in certain playthrough cases, the only) female companions/childhood friends in Japanese anything are. I've made it clear from the get go, Naoya's love of Maki's is plutonic. It is not carnal, plus if it was carnal he would buck horns with Mark constantly and his best friend would resent the hell out of him in each instance, so when Naoya says he loves her and he always will, he is saying that as in the love of family and he finally admits 100% the Ideal Maki Sonomura is Maki Sonomura which gives her great happiness in the saddest moment of her existence.

As for Philemon having the face of Naoya, to be fair the game never specifically says he has the face of Naoya, but if you watch the FMVs the eye colors are very distinctively similar. Plus in Innocent Sin, they pull the same thing. It's possible to have Philemon's masked removed in the ending and his face is revealed to be that of protagonist Tatsuya Suou. Since the same scenario writers wrote both games, I'm sure it is meant to be Naoya. Why exactly? I'm not sure. Philemon really is not supposed to be a person, hence the mask. Nyarla is not meant to be a person either hence why he takes on so many different forms throughout the P2 duology. One is a Jungian convention; the other is just a Middle God (I believe, although he might be an Elder God) from Lovecraft's mythos. Philemon is an archetype. He takes shapes and forms to guide others. That's it, though I do try to give him some character, especially since Nyarla has a hefty amount of personality in Persona 2. Though you can also argue Philemon has a personality in Persona 2 as well, albeit he's kind of a quieted asshole. Oh, yeah, in Eternal Punishment he's the Ultimate Boss, which is as awesome and hilarious as killing Lord British in the Ultima games. THIS IS FOR SITTING ON YOUR ASS AND MAKING US DO YOUR BIDDING!

I don't want to exactly dictate my favorite chapters and least favorite chapters here, because the story is not completely over with, but I do want to talk about characters and how I fucked up and well handled them. So, I butchered some things. For the record, Yukino is not a Yankee, she is the Japanese term Yanki which is a subculture of delinquent students popularized in Japan in the late 80s and early 90s. I found this out way to late to really fix though the reformed delinquent student motif was established and handled. Maki's condition is vague, but I believe she definitely did suffer from mental illness brought on by fatigue. Her nihilism and grandeur was probably brought from the ailing and therefore made the Ideal World with the DEVA System. Problem is I did not cleanly diagnose that. To be honest, sometimes in plot points, things were so unclear and unexplained that I had to make my own specific deduction out of the perplexity just to justify what the hell was happening. In the end, I think I could have presented the real Maki and her condition better.

Ayase and Brown, from the drawing board they were comic relief, because I could not fit them in any role of protagonist. Naoya's the leader, Masao's the go-getter, Reiji's the stoic badass anti-hero type, Kei's the serious team-keep-on-tracker, Maki's the geki girl, Yukino's the abusive team mom, Eriko is just barely relevant as the walking dictionary, but what can Brown and Ayase do? Of course, it does not help I had zero access to walkthroughs were people used Ayase, Brown, or Eriko in their parties so for all I know I could have terribly ruined them for some people who know them as well as I know Reiji. So, because of lack of knowledge and information, I effectively had to make Brown the plucky comic relief coward who becomes a badass, which is initially similar to his personality in the game of the clown, huxster, takes nothing serious funny guy. He's like Joe Peschi in _Goodfellas _you know without the hair trigger and threats of inexplicit/explicit violence.

Ayase, I just don't know. She has no motivations for doing any of this shit. I had to make up a situation to persuade her character into some sense of gratitude and that's why she's sticking her ass in the fire. There is a reason she is the default fifth member of your party if you go to a point of no return in the game without recruiting Eriko, Brown, or Reiji. She is automatically assigned pretty much coincidently in terms of storyline and she is like the worst character in the game, as bad as Cielo in Digital Devil Saga 1, which those unfamiliar with that game, Cielo is weak to status ailments. STATUS AILMENTS! IN A MEGAMI TENSEI GAME!

Eriko, I think I portrayed too "scarce in objectivity." I mean I was railroading her to Naoya, but I mean that's her purpose. Rival love interest and demon dictionary. So, I made her the Paper Mario Goombario and Goombella of the party who can reveal details about the opponents. If I cared for the designated role of character to be the scanner gameplay mechanic like Fuuka and Rise in P3 and P4, I would have made Eriko that person, but I really wouldn't like it, because it would just make her seem ineffectual when she clearly is not. She is canonically a fencer! Fuuka is a techie and Rise is a pin up girl idol! At least they have an excuse not to be able to fight! And no, Ultimax Ultra Suplex Hold does not count! They could have added Tatsuya, Maya, Lisa, Ulala, freaking Eikichi or any P1 characters, but instead the one of two characters who have no business fighting in a fighting game get to fight in the fighting game.

I'll talk about Naoya, Kei, Masao, and Reiji, most likely in the beginning author's notes, then at end give my favorite and least favorite chapters as well as my overall thoughts, concluding breakdown and what you guys can expect next.

Either way, I hope you enjoyed this chapter of Persona: Be Your True Mind and I'll see you next time for the final chapter, Chapter 30: Peace Diner on Joy Street.


	30. Chapter 30: Peace Diner on Joy Street

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything._

In continuation of the previous chapter's author's notes so we can keep ourselves on track and flow, Reiji's representation in this novelization, in my opinion, which is biased technically, is very well handled. He and Masao are like the only two characters I think I effectively wrote. Though, I was heavy handed and ham fisted with Reiji's back-story and I apologize, but once again I had to make a justification. Also, Reiji's gets a legitimate character arc, though I do think Brown does as well. Brown's is one of my favorite moments in the novel though, but Reiji's is actually evident, just spread thinly. I think I went overboard with him in the beginning, like a demon riling under his skin making him this invincible badass who leaves a wake of corpses in his path. Like, he was some action hero who stepped out of the millimeter film, but as I progressed probably after Chapter 10, he definitely was deflated in zealousness for me, I brought him down to earth, like a lot of the characters really, but Reiji was the most obvious because of the way he acted. Then I made him have a temper tantrum. An honest-to-God temper tantrum. I wished I could change that and sequeway his big reveal better, because by God I missed big on that moment in terms of properly choreographing it.

I'M ANGRY! REIJI SMASH!

LOL! I CAN'T LET YOU DO THAT CHURLISH OFFSPRING! *Maniacal laughter*

Masao, I've talked to death about before. He is my favorite character, and in this novelization and in the game. It kinda pisses me off he does not make an appearance in the P2 dualogy like all the other characters do, well except Ayase. He's like King in _Django Unchained_. You just can't help but like the guy. Even in his rivalry with Kei, he does not seem like an assailable character. He is hands down the best best friend of the Persona protagonists just for that. Yosuke is polarizing. I'd say barely a friend to you considering the amount of shit he causes to happen to you. Junpei is for the most part likeable, but can be considered annoying and also does things that are endangering. In Innocent Sin, there is no clear Lancer-like chum. They are all connected so there isn't an adjunct Chet Morton to their _Hardy Boys_. In Eternal Punishment, however, you can say Ulala, who is awesome. I want to see her, Reiji, Lisa, Akihiko, and Chie to have an all-out brawl with bare knuckles! TOO bad the fighting game doesn't want to include her, Lisa, or Reiji. *Sigh* What a wasted opportunity.

Kei…is Kei. He is the voice of the magical device known as EXPOSITION, as well as the voice of the Main Character who is the token Megaten silent protagonist. I got rid of Kei's brash side really early on, like Chapter 3, when he was supposed to be calling people monkeys for at least fifty percent of the game, but I had to do something to move him in the direction of motivation after Yamaoka's death. It was one of those moments were I was very obstinate in justification for the events that transpired. Kei's pretty much surrogate father died because he was worried about Kei and he somewhat brushes it off. So, I had Masao kick him in the ass and have him wake up from his despair to move on, ultimately earning Kei's respect. So, Kei was not as big of a jerk as he was intended to be. Though, his insecurity was shown. Though I consider that to be more meta on my part, because I was basically backseating him, when in the actually game he is the leader and the MC is just the standard you control the guy in the front to make you feel predominantly important. I also wish I made him say more proverbs and idioms, but when you have nine characters talking and are trying to distribute them equally in terms of dialogue and actions, it's difficult to interweave the intellectual man's lets-get-moving, this-is-how-we-do-it dialogue that moves the plot along with profound and philosophical statements.

SHIT! A BIG TURTLE!

He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster and when you gaze—

KEI, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

Naoya, Naoya, Naoya. I made him my own character. I hoped you guys liked him even though I felt at times he blended into the background until I specifically wanted him to shine, though in hindsight that was the intention so I don't know what I'm taking issue with myself for. It was after Chapter 10 that cemented where Naoya was going for me. His arc was perfected at that point and I really had him take a competent role in the leader position, but the reluctance of himself and his struggles with the alignment dogma were still minorly presented because I had to save his final revelation for the ending, so he had to have doubt, and I felt firstly it was out of nowhere, because after Naoya leaves the Velvet Room agreeing to think of his friends instead of his own selfishness. He really fulfilled the principles for the revelation, but then I remembered the meaning of the Emperor. You want to control life's events, but you can't. So, yes Naoya accepted something beyond his control, but did he really? He just found a way to deal with the situation without making an exact remedy, just chronic maintenance to the hardship. Or did he really find his place? I'm the author who wrote it and even I'm not sure. That's not good, btw. Then I devised the excuse in his reaction to Maki was the one behind the nightmares and therefore Naoya has to deal with an identity crisis. It was staring him right in the face but he didn't notice a thing. I forced it to stick and I'm terribly sorry. I went all Araki on you and broke my own rules or if you look at them another way just played ball around them. Naoya's whole "death" scene was meant to be played for shock value and pandering, but it also was to help me develop Philemon's and Nyarlathotep's relationship as well as Naoya himself. You see, I planned that scene back when I intended to write a series of novelizations and Naoya is meant to have this relationship with Philemon that has reluctance because Philemon is controlling and manipulative (Not to mention extremely shady if you think about it), but he is their only chance to win basically. They eventually build a bizarre, untrusting rapport. Yes, I realize that's a paradox, but who knows you may just get the option to see what I describing in motion.

With that aside, welcome to the final chapter of Persona: Be Your True Mind Chapter 30.

* * *

><p><em>Chapter Thirty: Peace Diner on Joy Street<em>

"Though the world's eyes were on Mikage-cho after the incident, normalcy eventually returned to our town. With the heavy media attention and the testimony of the emancipated scientists from the Haunted Mansion as well as Dr. Nicolai in his ardent guilt, SEBEC was indicted, put under totalitarian scrutiny. Investigations were launched to discern what role the company played and who responsible was involved. Takahisa Kandori was found inculpable, seeing how it is difficult to prosecute a man who committed seppuku with his own yoroidoshi knife. His brother claimed he left Kandori unharmed and we believed it from the bottom of our hearts. Chances are the despicable President crawled chaotically towards his goal, the merits of his expedition a slit throat from his strengthened hand which endured countless hours of Baoding ball rotation."

"The Ideal World ceased to be. The DEVA System a dismantled scrapped crinkled inward at the loss of its core. The core itself permanently disintegrated in a deconstruction of matter. Our identities, the students central to the incident, remained hidden. Time passed, and the DEVA System's effects faded from people's minds. We young adults came away with a sense of our true selves as we took our first steps toward the unwritten future."

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Yuka Ayase compressed her lips and smooched, her rouge-red lipstick leaving an impression of the steaming cheeks of Hidehiko Uesugi. "Like, there's the story. I swear if you laugh, I'll totally knee you in the balls."

"You are the love of my life." He mumbled, his eyes becoming hearts in a crude imitation of a Marin Karin possession.

"I'll see you in a while, 'kay?" She grinned in time where he newly crossed partner. "I, like, have amending to do."

"See you at the spot." He replied, titling his shades. "I have some mending in mind too."

Ayase walked across the cafeteria as Hidehiko parted momentary ways with her. She was approaching a crowded table. A inane argument taking place among the denizens.

"Like you fought demons, Tamaki Uchida," The glasses wearing Tadashi Satomi exclaimed.

"I did, Pharmacy Boy! At my old school," The auburn haired beauty Tamaki Uchida snapped.

"I believe, Tamaki-chan!" Kenta Yoruichi said aloud, slurping a bundle of Ramen noodles. "She's the glamorous heroine of the fencing club! Though, she is incomparable to Eriko-chan gracefulness!"

"No one asked you, Kenta!" Tadashi bitterly replied. "Plus, I'm the best fencer in the fencing club! I'm more than a match for Tamaki!"

"Please, Tadashi! You wouldn't know the difference between a rapier and a broom stick!" Tamaki endearingly stated.

"Who do you think is the best, Ayase?!" The two exclaimed at once, angling their extreme expressions to the recently arrived Yuka, currently stunned at the suddenness.

"Like, uh...Eriko-chan! She's like, totally, elegant! Fashionable in laying the total smack down on the bad guys,"

"Yuka-chan agrees with me! Life is sweet." Kenta swooned, actually forgetting his delectable noodles.

Tadashi's eye was twitching. "Ah, I still say I'm the best and Tamaki's a liar!"

"Am not, demons invaded Kurokozaka High School and sucked in into the Expanse! (A/N) I swear!"

"Like, when are those two gonna go on a date?" Ayase whispered to Yuko at the end of the table as she took her seat.

"They schedule their arguments because they take so long. Doesn't that count as dating already?" Yuko Himeno proposed and Ayase chuckled.

"Hello, my fellows!" Tsutomu Kurouri greeted, prying his demonically masked face on Ayase's and Yuko's shoulders.

"AAAAH," They screamed at his unsuspected presence.

"Would you all care to hear the riveting tale of the play of the Snow Queen?"

"_Jackass, but I guess he's, like a friend, the same as them_."

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Hidehiko "Brown" Uesugi traveled from the cafeteria, departing his requited affectionist. He went to the vacated Nurse's office, passing Ms. Saeko and Yukino in the teacher's lounge. He deposited the communicative box's sustenance and pounded each key accurately and surely. All these years, he remembered the exact string. He always entertained the notion, calling a cities in distance, offering what in the past he had considered falsities through the speaker of a plastic receiver. But, he was a changed man, no longer a coward with a doubtful prospect.

The line rang like a judgment bell. His previous tentative fingers were steadied, fixated on maintaining his keen sense of fortitude.

The incessant ring seemed to go on forever, enough for Brown to think of hanging up and trying again, but as quickly as the thought came, it justly went.

A voice crackled through the ring, an older woman. "Arimoto residence,"

"Hi, can I speak to Sota, please?"

"May I ask who is asking to speak to my son?"

"No problem, Miss Ari. Tell him this is Spade. He'll know who I am." A white lie powdered with a little truth never heart. Spade was a nickname to their mutual acquaintance. Brown's old friend remembered.

"Spade, shit, man, I haven't heard from you in ages!" Sota's voice was unwavering, exuding such keenness.

"Sorry to disappoint, I'm not Spade."

"What?" Sota was pissed. "Who the hell are you then? This better not be Hid—"

"I, Hidehiko Uesugi provoked Yoshida and ran away in cowardice. You can go back to forgetting you ever met me. I deserve it for what I've done. I'm sincerely sorry."

Brown hung up the phone, his penance made. The machine regurgitated the leftovers of its supper, the grief-lifted boy abandoning it for the next unfortunate soul.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Yukino Mayazumi perceived the cluttered papers, loose mugs, sprawled pens and pencils upon the desks of the faculty through a screen on her mini-Canon. She was clicking shots of the posters, of the stains, of the bluebirds nesting outside the window, firing off the shutter with ferocity in jollity.

"This is fantastic, Miss Saeko! Everything so clear on the image! I have to take overhead pictures with this thing! I can capture the beauties of life splendidly on this baby! Nothing like my dad's ancient Polaroid,"

Miss Saeko amusedly laughed to the back of her hand. "I'm glad you enjoy my gift, Yukino. It is my thanks for protecting them."

Yukino silently shifted the lens to her homeroom teacher and friend. "Well, Naoya, did a fair bit of the protecting. I just watched out for them. Say cheese!"

"Naoya," Saeko's eyes bugged in surprise as Yukino's flash blinded her, signaling the printing of her distraught demeanor in the storage card of her student's camera.

"Yep, our little Naoya's all grown up!" She took a follow-up shot this time Saeko solidly composed.

"I did some growing as well, Miss Saeko. This iron shell of mine has softened even more."

"I'm glad, Yukino. I knew you were capable of finding the truth in your heart. Now, how did your crush turned out in this evolution of Yukino Mayazumi?"

Yukino blushed in response, absent mindly snapping shots at further fixtures beyond the lone window pane in the lounge. "Well, we're meeting up today actually. He has some business to take care of, but I promised to pick him up at four. We going to Peace—"

"Yukino, it's ten to four right now!" Saeko interjected urgently.

"Shoot!" She cursed. "Thanks again for the camera, Miss Saeko! See you on Monday! Gotta run like a sonic boom!"

Yukino absconded from the room, hast imbued in her boots.

"Drive safely, Yukino!" Saeko called to her sprinting friend.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Kei Nanjo ceremonious traipsed among the memorial graveyard dedicated to the shed blood of the dutiful servants and scions of the Nanjo Family. Kei, in solidifying reticence, propelled himself from the Chujitsuna (A/N) plot/subdivision of the Nanjo plot.

He unfastened the buttons of his black dress coat as he remembered the moments ago. Yamaoka was lowered gently to a peaceful, earthly rest. He was buried next to his father of the name Chujitsuna and his father's father baring the name running through the branches of the Nanjo Family's staunch butlers.

He tucked his emblazoned scarf well, properly securing the cuffs of his uniform sleeves. He was an intellectual, a student; therefore he wanted to remain empirically as such.

As they sealed the casket in compacted soil, Kei spoke words his father and his grandfather would never have spoken regarding their Chujitsuna man-servants. The latest generation of Nanjo spoke in kindness, compassion, and exceeding love towards his "father." Yamaoka Chujitsuna was honored in his respect, his devotion, and by his "son" for insurmountable bond they continued to share.

As Kei neatly placed the repaired glasses of Yamaoka on his nose, his soul shuttered at the seconds ago memory.

The glasses boy folded his hands, joining the fingers tightly. For the first time in years, Kei Nanjo prayed to the untold multiverse of gods who would listen.

"_**Master Kei, your speech at the service was…so very beautiful. I am in tears.**_"

"_Thank you…Yamaoka. It was hard to forge those words in the reality when you yourself live on within my soul."_

"_**They were excellent words, Master Kei! I am happy to be always at your side! You're loyal servant till your last days."**_

"_You are more to me than simple servant._" Kei at last reached the entrance gates, hoping in his sullenness he did not inconvenience his ride.

"With you by my side, Yamaoka, I will fulfill your dying wish. I will become the number one man in Japan."

As Kei pronounced his dreams in adamant voice on the sidewalk, the sputtering of a tailpipe carried down the road. Yukino's car was speeding like a slung shot arrow.

At the pointed swiftness of the imagery in Kei's thoughts, he silently invoked the image of a friend who he hoped was fully "transformed."

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Maki Sonomura waved leisurely to her mother, Setsuko, in the hallway. Maki was sitting at her dresser, blissfully combing her hair. The hospital had delivered her a clean bill of health, released her from their care to the open arms of her self-loathing mother. She was cured of what disorders plagued her, the feelings and development of her infolded stature practicing themselves inside her tangible form. She had changed her ways, wiles, and woes. She was the true and new Maki Sonomura.

Maki smiled in the mirror, her skin colored nicely, her body invigorated with a sense of rejuvenated euphoria. Her soul was literally singing as the Persona granted to her stirred gleefully at her mystical grooming. Her, when she was a receded soul in the Alaya Cavern, gazed upon her friends who risked their lives courageously for her. They diminished Pandora's influence, but ultimately her ideal personification of herself was the convincing factor. Her devoted friends combined strength was the additional ingredient blended with the audacious words of herself to herself to relinquish the nihilism of her soul. The hollowed corner of her heart, where her Avidya World previously fermented, was filled whole with the silhouettes of her friends, cheered on by two newcomers.

The girl tied up her iconic red ribbon, leaving her compact on the mahogany dresser alone. Jack Frost hopped on the desk, playfully poking the trinket quizzically. "Ho! It's not like-ho, Mistress Mai and Aki's compact anymore-ho!"

"You're right-hee!" Pyro Jack insisted, plopping his pumpkin body next to his snowman brother. "Its just-hee a normal-hee mirror here."

The Ideal Maki had passed on her revelations, her consciousness, as she ceased to be. Mai forwarded her mother's innate love and tenderness as she was hugged in the ending hour. Aki was consumed by Pandora, mutilating her inner malignancy. Pandora, her nihilism, was tremblingly shattered by her friends opposing force, evacuating the remaining shadows in her soul. The entire "paradise" she inadvertently brought to life with her distorted desires was gone, molecularly degraded as all the constructs produced by the scientific power of the DEVA System. The Ideal Mikage-cho, the demons, the angels, Kandori's Deva Yuga, and even the encompassing barrier secluding Mikage to dangerous turmoil were lifted and eradicated as if they never existed. The Jack Brothers; however, were an apparent special case; they existed as Personas. Personas contracted to the soul of the Ideal Maki, who in turn was an incarnation and facet of the real Maki Sonomura, in the same vein of her Ultimate Priestess remained with her. The two fascinated children were creation beget by the same power fueling Kandori's Mirror of Chaos, but only had come about by the creations of the DEVA System. They were a complicated anomaly. Maki had no excuse as to why they were in tact. Perhaps because they were as they were: a complicated creation. Or perhaps, her will, the Ideal Maki's will of communal ranking, respirited them, confirmed their identity in the sea of her soul. An answer was indiscernible; to Maki she was merely excited to retain her duo of new friends.

"Okay, you two, make like Digimon (A/N) and stuff animal yourselves!"

"Where are we-hee going, Mistress Maki-hee?"

"Are we-ho going to see-ho our amihos?"

"Uh-huh…but first we have to put some lust in the bust of Eriko-chan's bustier!"

"Lust-hee in the bust-hee," Pyro Jack titled his pumpkin head.

"Bustier-ho, what's that-ho?"

Maki's face became tomato-red. "Well…I'll explain it to your when you're both older."

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Eriko Kirishima stood at her mirror, clad in her silk bustier. She was addressing the security of her stockings to the garter as she fiddled with her reddish hair. She had released the strands from her ponytail and allowed them to drape across her breasts. The conservative pencil skirt and full jacket of the St. Hermelin uniform often hid the exotic flair she decorated herself underneath with. The portions and pieces hailing from the many lands her father's business took them.

"_I can't monopolize the time with rehearsing too much. Yukino said after she picks up Reiji they'll be there to meet with Masao and Naoya to start at four fifteen. I don't want to be late, today's important._"

"I'm not strange, weird, off, nor crazy. (A/N)" Eriko recited to the mirror, attempting to quell the resurfacing of the despair and carnage associated with Kandori's omnipotent Mirror of Chaos. "I…care…no…like…no…I love…I love you."

Eriko dejectedly fiddled with the ribbon on her satin underwear. "Acting and doing are two different things as I suspected. It is futile to say aloud, when your heart races at the pace of Ganesha running the globe for his golden apple, expressing a true mind's affirmation is impossible."

"Don't say that, Eriko-chan!" Maki protested barging in Eriko's ajar door. "It just a mental block, you are always open with your affection to Nao-kun!"

Eriko partially smiled at Maki's obvious eavesdropping and arrival. "Proclaiming concretely is a challenge to my throat I suppose."

"Don't be silly!" Maki exclaimed, unpacking the Jack Brothers from her backpack.

"I think I am but a silly girl." Eriko said, wondering about the innumerous tomes of demonology, fanatical cultish posters, and various magazines issues of the Ayakashi Monthly (A/N) dotting the space of her room. "I have an extravagant obsession."

"Uh-uh!" Maki put herself between Eriko and her looking glass. "Obsessions aren't bad! Nao-kun loves obsessing! Like, the arcade, he was obsessed with that for years! Obsessing, obsessing, obsessing, Nao-kun is obsessive about obsessing!"

Eriko giggled at the brunette's blathering. "You're lunge has point. I do not hold a proper riposte."

"Okay!" Maki pumped her fists, her rosy cheeks blazing with happiness. "Let's make you over! I'll make you Nao-kuns favorite girl even if it kills me!"

"Please do not exaggerate about such—OWH" Eriko was startled as Maki immediately began handling her bosom.

"Nao-kun won't be upfront with me about it, but with Masao-kun, I know they prefer girls with big primed bazookas!" Maki explained, innocently stuffing a wad of handkerchief pressed under Eriko's breast.

Eriko was blushing. "I do not believe that is necessary!"

"Oh, Eriko-chan, those stockings are pretty! Nao-kun'll love the floral pattern!"

"I was planning to wear a skirt!"

"Why? You're legs are so…impressive!"

Eriko flicked her hair dismissively. "Please, I am imperfection. You are truly impressive."

Maki shook her head fervently. "Uh-uh! Get rid of that imperfection talk! You could model with the gorgeous body you've got Eriko-chan!"

Eriko was struck again at her friend's powerful complement, as she continued adjusting her.

"A model…really," She mused, completely humbled.

"Yeppers, you'd be a knock-out, I'm just making you a Naoya calibrated knock-out." Maki ducked to inspect her lower half more thoroughly.

"Hm…hot pink, you're so naughty Eriko-chan. I think Nao-kun likes pink though and panty lines."

As Maki pondered aloud, Eriko gazed at herself a second instance in the mirror. She saw Maki's strutting back and her lengthy scarlet hair dangling upon her endowed front.

"Woo-wee, those heels over there are deadly fabulous; Nao-kun'll love 'em. God, why haven't we ever done this before? This is so much fun!"

"_Because I resented you long ago, pining for attention and intimacy is a juvenile notion now. I care for you as I care for all my friends. I'd protect you all the same, because I do not consider you a rival any longer._"

"I'm thinking we should stuff a bra instead, it'll air the girls better plus give Nao-kun deeper pheromone shellshock."

"Maki," The hitherto craven Eriko asked for, running her fingers through her treated hair.

"Uh-huh, Eriko-chan,"

"Can you help me…cut my hair?"

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Reiji Kido clipped his choker, jangling the chain as he moved to the living room. His scar hurt less this morning, the infuriation at Kandori's guile-less suicide had seeped through him for the few days since the incident. He made a promise to a girl, a promise which he kept but did not attain.

"_At least that bastard will have a permanent reminder of me while he's being stewed alive in the circles of Hell. Still pisses me off. Today isn't a day to regret Inaba would say. He'll probably say it when he sees me at the victory buffet. Though I'm betting today he's regretting betting against Asshat._"_'_

Reiji picked up his pace, checking his hallway clock. His mother was kneeling on a cushion by the coffee table, sewing in a humming tune of jauntiness.

"Mother," He quietly said, not wanting to interrupt her bout of flagrant optimism she had not possessed for decades.

"Yes, dear," Misumi Kido politely replied, knitting and pearling in the art of haberdashery.

"I'm heading out. I won't be back for a couple hours."

"Okay, dear, where may you be going?" She asked, whistling in accordance as her two-day fabric frenzy was nearing completion.

Reiji smiled at his mother, regretfully for causing her trouble and worry, painfully sorry she could not witness the heinous men who discarded her and ruined her life, pay in life's retribution currency instead of a spiritual assumption. "Out with some friends to Joy Street,"

"Friends," The word was like a penny drop resounding in noise dampened chamber.

"I'm made some friends, Mother. They're good people."

"My darling boy," Misumi Kido wiped a tear, her lone aspiration for her son accomplished by his own strength. "I'm proud of you. Please, have fun."

"Thanks, Ma. I'll see you later."

"Oh, wait!" Misumi stopped her son's advance toward the sliding door. "I have a present for you."

"Present? What's the occasion?" Reiji asked.

"To the death of scum," Misumi Kido spit to the side at the unsavory poison accumulating the perceived thoughts of the father of her child and his despicable son.

Reiji grinned, behind his canine teeth he was whimpering at the misfortune.

"I noticed your gloves were gone."

"Well…" Reiji was devising an excuse. He could not simply exclaim they were destroyed in a battle to save reality. "I lost them. Sorry, I did not mean to be rash and ungrateful."

"I'm not angry. Your replacements," She laid a pair of newly sewn gloves in her boy's awaiting hands.

"Ma, these are…"

"Designed in the American flag, yes, (A/N)"

Reiji saw with clamoring eyes the star spangled banner laced into fingerless gloves. The stars pronounced his knuckles, the snug stripes complementing the density of his phalanges, the red, white, and blue echoing a noticeable symbol on his wrists.

"They fit right-on. Each finger is flexibly articulated. These are great, Ma!"

"I'm glad you enjoy them. I chose the American flag because of those boxers you are fond of. Some of the Americans wear their country's flag on their gloves. The Rising Sun would have been apropos, but the American flag on street fighting gloves is rather intricate."

"Street fighting, Ma, I…"

"I wanted to memorialize. Take care of them, Reiji. They are yours to use as you want, whether with your fists or not is not a concern of mine."

The manner in which his mother proceeded in conversation surprised Reiji. His mother knew what he was doing all along, the same way he realized what she had done to survive and understand. She trusted him in return he trusted her. He hadn't realized that until she had offered him the guarding clothe for a bred warrior's fists.

"I will take care of them, Mother. I won't let a scratch get on them. I promise."

Misumi Kido smiled as her son exited their home, delight splashing her at the car horn indicating the rush of her son.

"Find joy at Joy Street with your friends my dear child."

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Masao Inaba was drinking the Dr. Salt he ordered at the table he reserved for the nine of them at Peace Diner. His best friend's chilled and un-opened Cielo Mist was sitting on a coaster in reach of the vacant seat.

Peace Diner was not a slapdash, grotesque, confined casino as found in the Black Market of the Ideal World. Peace Diner in the real Mikage-cho was a cozy, homely place of business. They were the biggest section of Joy Street for a reason. Their popularity came in forms compared to the old-fashion American steak-an-eggs, mom-and-pop diners. The establishment had red leather cushioned booths, national memorable framed on the walls, and a cordoned dance floor for the caffeine consumed teens to bust a move on to the open band playing the venue. Peace Diner popularization was imbedded exactly when the indie band D-VA (A/N) rocked the place in a tumult quake of vibrations. The place was jam-packed, lines forming at the door, you were lucky to get a stool at the counter. From that day, Peace Diner's was THE hang out for after school if you were in the in-crowd, read the latest Coolest (A/N), and air guitared to the regent beauty of D-VA, Yoshino Harusawa.

Now, Masao Inaba, was not one a avid reader of the teen magazine Coolest not like Eriko in her Ayakashi Monthly. He was also not in the in-crowd, because most girls found him to be a delinquent. He definently; however, air guitared to D-VA that fateful night, and for that, he'd eat an all-you-can-eat at Peace Diner.

"_Sucks I gotta pay for half an all-you-can eat for eight because Eriko decided she wasn't in._"

Masao slugged his Dr. Salt, reminiscing of the past days. Lieutenant Oda, his police dotter, was alive-and-kicking. Masao knew first hand when he arrived home Oda with the aid of his mother and father berated him with scolding at his tardiness, their concern for him maintained throughout the duration of the DEVA System incident.

"_Man, Baldy, you gave me a scare. At some point I should tell him we perused the confiscated weapons. Nah, what he doesn't know won't hurt him. I'll just put his hidden key back the next time I unwillingly stop by._"

Yosuke Naito and Chisato Kasai were invited to join there gathering by Maki. She guaranteed Masao and his compatriot donor to the buffet she would provide the wages to feed the awkwardly romantic boyfriend and girlfriend. Chisato was attempting to dance on the designated area with her boyfriend still in casts and bandage, a humorous feat worthy to be present at their celebration.

"_The two of 'em, they are important people to Maki. I can't refuse her request. When she gets her, man, I'm gonna lay it all on the table. Full house to whatever three of a kind she's got. Down on one knee, heart in my hand, doesn't matter. I'm ready to show her my feelings. The words are there, the feelings bubble, and I'm gonna spill 'em…once she arrives._"

Masao requested a refill for his Dr. Salt, having to belay the waitress questions regarding order. The all-you-can-eat special was the choice, but Masao did not have the necessary funds for the transaction in his wallet. He needed a quarter of the addition from Maki and the original half from his fellow loser.

"_Shit, where are you dude? If you're late, Brown's gonna hound me for his pay-up till you get here._"

Masao's senses perked as he witnessed the swing of the metallic door and heard the wispy flick of a simple hoop earring.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

Naoya Todo begrudgingly laid his month's allowance on the waitress tray with Mark's and surprisingly Maki as well as Ayase. The blonde had brought an entourage of Tamaki, Satomi, Kenta, Yuko, and Tsutomu to join the party with Maki's plus two of Yosuke and Chisato. The gang literal was all in Peace Diner on Joy Street, living in the elated era of the present. Naoya was blithely content. They had won a battle deemed unwinnable. They altered a psyche that seemed to be inconsolable. They survived, they changed, and they were better people than before.

Naoya cleared his third helping of the protein deluxe offered by Peace Diner. He was seated in a way he could watch the entire restaurant and all the events culminating to the dance floor unfold.

Ayase and Brown were huddled together in a soiree of unnatural grinding. Ayase was pulling Brown in, as she performed her professional dance moves. The two were incongruent in flow and motion, but they were having a blast. Naoya even saw the sleight of hand of Ayase removing her garbing underwear and shoving the unmentionable into the craving, lecterous hands of Brown, who received a whisper Naoya only assumed was "Your thanks."

Kei and Yukino had eaten a fine number of portions in the booth beside Naoya's. The conversation was silent, comatose until Kei politely asked his colleague/love interest for a waltz. Yukino slightly chortled at the strange choice of a formal dance, but she kindly took his hand in hers and the two waltzed to the unheard _Nutcracker_ of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

Masao had ushered Maki to an undisturbed corner. The compatible rapture mutual conducting inward to them each from the other was of a magnificent charge. Naoya could see the clearness of their feelings in their eyes even seated several feet from them. He thoughtfully cheered for his best friend for finally achieving the goal he sketched in providence. The boy in the yellow turque was on one knee to the girl with the red ribbon. Masao Inaba's hand was on his heart; Maki Sonomura's hand was cupping her breast. The two exchanged fondness, curtly embracing in their terse corner filled with diction of love. In the inaudible speech to Naoya, he saw his two best friends in the world, his familiar family, rush to the dance floor to groove a sedated groove.

In the indistinct crowd of vocalization Naoya had a difficult time hearing the exact things Reiji was saying to the booth of the exterior St. Hermelin students. What the boy with the earring could see was Reiji's waving hand gestures and various forms of motions upon his audience of Tamaki, Satomi, Kenta, Yuko, and Tsutomu. It was when the scarred boy plucked a ten yen coin from behind Tamaki's ear did Naoya comprehend he was executing magic tricks to amuse his nubile nakama.

Naoya slyly inserted a open can of Mad Bull and bag of chips to the incision of Maki's backpack. The Jack Bros were ecstatic to gain their gift of alien humanely nourishment.

"_They're situated. That's not everybody. Where's…Eriko_."

The demonic-knowledgeable student of St. Hermelin had arrived with the others, Naoya was sure, but for the life of him he could not remember witnessing her presence in the restaurant. The lights had dimmed to accommodate the gyrating duos on the dance floor and he was gathering a pang of anxiety at the absence of Eriko.

"_Where is she?"_

Naoya was standing on his feet, scanning the light negated surroundings, desperately wanting to see Eriko leaning against a wall, salsaing on the floor, or at the counter hydrating.

"Naoya," An unmistakable voice asked from his rear.

He swiveled around in the open space of Peace Diner in a whip-lash of joints.

There Eriko stood in honed heels beneath convoluted floral stockings. Her sundress was tan, sleek and fluid along her leanness. Her breasts were much more noticeable than before. They were tightly contained in the top of her dress, the plunging v moderately proportioned to not denote her as too orthodox or too loose. Her aroma was intoxicating. Her sent was sensually permeating Naoya's neural complexity. He was drawn to her appearance, but met the apex of the surprised make-over of Eriko Kirishima. Her lengthy red hair usually smoothly done in a ponytail was gone, replaced with a ruddy-colored bob cut. Her ascot was wrapped around her neck, as she coltishly bounced her shortened locks.

"What do you think…Naoya?"

"You're…stunning, Eriko. Really…beautiful," Naoya was breath-taken with her.

"Do you like…my hair?"

"It looks great. When did you…"

"Maki helped me with it. I wanted to change it so…"

The two were quiet, the reluctance to affirm their intentions reserved in their minds.

Eriko's lips opened to speak, but no words came.

Naoya tried to initiate the negotiation, but he was muted.

They stood themselves stationary for a few seconds until Naoya merely took his hand in hers and lead her to do what they both wanted to ask the other, but were unable to do in words: dance.

**Persona: Be Your True Mind**

The roof of Joy Street was a nest in which you could observe the horizon encompassing Mikage-cho in its primal gold magnificence. The nine Persona Users responsible for preserving this enriched and treasured city were on the roof top engulfing their minds with the taking view. The celebration was finished, their bellies full, their energies spent, their bills paid, and their honest friends off away. Just the nine of them and the Jack Brothers stood on the stone slab boxing the shopping mall. They were standing in a circle, called to be at the location at Naoya's request.

Filled with brevity, Naoya as concisely as possible, informed his comrades of the dissonance he suffered when he was falling to the grasp of the reaper. He recounted the tale being summoned to the realm between unconsciousness and consciousness, speaking with, being proposed to by Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos, and Philemon, the Guiding Monarch. He plunged the story to the visions of the future, the ones which seemed bleak but were inevitably resurrected in hopeful march. The precognitive visions of the later future which tranquilized what he believed to be his dying soul in the ticking stopwatch of reality. They were astonished at occurrence. The interstellar happening drove a new cognizance on the incredibly terrifying affair.

"Now, I ask you as my friends and my comrades…for your help. Not help for now, but help in the future. For posterity, for those in the future who will be involuntarily compulsed within the outcomes of a wager between two strident gods, I ask for your help. I ask you to help them to your fullest capacity. I want to guarantee the futures I saw remain the futures that will be. I want to forever return to this place, my home, and see this view from up here. I never want to see it tormented and disintegrated in mutation or destruction again. Till the infinite worlds bordering the universal confines unravel, I do not want to see this world harmed. You do not have to help me, you are not obligated to. Me, I feel obligated. I saw those succeeding others and I feel a responsibility to help them on my own accord. If you guys are in, tell me, if you're out, I don't think any of us would think less of you after what we've experienced."

Naoya flattened his hand and extended it forward to his allies.

Masao's callous palm slapped itself down on Naoya's in enthusiasm. "What do you think, Nao? We always got each others backs no matter what, right? Let's get funky!"

Maki lightly laid her hand on top. "I owe you all more than I can imagine. Please, allow me to help you."

"I suppose it's my move." Kei sophisticatedly added his hand to the convergence. "I will use my power to stop the pain I have had the displeasure of feeling from happening to others like me."

"Leave it to me, N.T.!" Brown prominently dunked his hand on the pile. "I've got this Persona and I'm not getting rid of it! Man, the world's ever in trouble, yo, I'll solve it!"

Ayase instantly went with Brown's drunk. "Like, here! If Brown's in, I'm in. I'm like, totally not gonna be alone on this!"

Yukino clutch her hand on the extending limbs. "Ha! You knuckleheads need someone to look after you. Ms. Saeko'd be crushed if I let this large number of you off without my supervision."

Eriko accompanied her friend. "I will do my best to offer whatever services I may to whoever is in need. I'll protect you all with my wildest strength."

"Hell yeah, Punk, I'm in." Reiji swung his brawny fist on the very highest. "I owe you guys just as big as Sonomura. No way am I letting you kick all the demon ass alone."

Naoya felt the significant weight of his friends on his own power. "Thank you…everyone. If humanity, Persona Users, the world is ever in dire straights again, we all promise, we abide by our contract, to come together to help whoever we can stop it!"

"HEE-HO!" Jack Frost and Pyro Jack exclaimed in admiration as they leaped upwards and smacked themselves on the mess of fingers.

"Should we say it, guys?" Masao asked.

"Why not, Inaba," Reiji replied.

"Just once more," Eriko added.

"For the time being," Yukino stated.

"Then, let's say it!" Brown exclaimed.

"Yeah, like, the loudest we can be!" Ayase chided.

"Well, not the loudest we can be." Maki corrected.

"We do not desire others to discover our secret." Kei informed.

"Then, we'll say it moderately!" Naoya offered.

"DO-HEE IT-HO NOW-HEE, AMIHOS,"

"**PERSONA!**"

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><p><strong>Persona Be Your True Mind<strong>

A/N: Tamaki Uchida is the female version of the protagonist of Shin Megami Tensei: …if, She is legitimately fitted into the game known as Megumi Ibunroku Persona and the remake Shin Megami Tensei: Persona. Technically, the events of …if are constituted as canon, because Tamaki makes references to fighting demons in a similar situation if you talk to her in the game.

Chujitsuna is meant to be the Japanese translation of the word loyalty. Yamaoka is the loyal butler, his family is the loyal subsidiary, hence why I offered him the last name of Chujitsuna. Why I made up one for him? Yamaoka does not have an established last name, but in Revelations: Persona they call him Alfred. Yep. Guess Kei is some crude effigy of Bruce Wayne in some ways.

Not those Digital Monsters guys! It's funny though how abbreviations work. You can infer Digital Demons or Digital Monsters from the name Digimon. Digital Demon is the intended part of the unintended pun. Digital Demons of course comes from Digital Devil which is not only based in the Megaten titles Digital Devil Saga, but also the novels in which the whole series was spawned from and bases off of entitled Digital Devil Story.

Eriko's opening is a part of a quote from _Through the Looking Glass _by Lewis Carol. I mean, the Wonderland bibliography holds some of my favorite literature, next to a lot of different mythos penned by an abundance of deft and avid authors, but I partial referenced it, because the last line is like my reality is just different then yours which in my rendition of Eriko I don't think is to far off as an appropriate idiom. Plus I'm sure you can actually apply _Through the Looking Glass_ to this game's story in a way. I wouldn't be surprised if it served as an influence. Ayakashi Monthly is an occult magazine prominent in Nocturne which is written by the character who helps you out called Jyoji Hijiri who is pretty much confirmed to be *spoiler for Shin Megami Tensei 2 inserted here* I think its useless to censor, because I'm positive you'll just wiki his character and see the answer anyway.

Well the American flag gloves are a stable of Reiji's design that I for some reason or another omitted in his original appearance. Then after I destroyed them when he had his hissy fit I kind of shot myself in the foot, because in Innocent Sin Lisa Silverman's ultimate weapon is Reiji's USA Gloves. He actually gives them to her when you meet him in the Abandoned Factory, because she admires them as the gloves used to beat up yakuza and a gang leader I believe. So, I said fuck in dismay, and then said Hell why not have his mother make them for him in the epilogue, give a significance to his staple characteristic. *Pats self on back* Good recovery, except you kind of messed up the passing of the gloves, because they hold sentiment value to Reiji, so he won't want to give them up to the O.G. martial artist fan girl. FUCK! *in dismay*

D-VA is a band in Devil Survivor. The character Haru WAS a member of the band. Since I assume Devil Survivor takes place in 2009, and this story takes place in what I am retconning to 2004, it makes sense because Haru does indeed go solo for certain reasons in Devil Survivor. Why the reference, because Devil Survivor will be kind of relevant, not exactly story, but a cameo of a character, plus I needed a recognizable band and it's not like I could use Risette or Gas Chamber this early in the timeline of Persona. Added to that their name that makes the pun diva actually looks like the abbreviation of the DEVA System, in the Japanese version it is simply called the DVA System. So, they're exact which is cool. Speaking of cool, Coolest is the magazine that is published by Kismet Publishing which is where a certain deuteragonist of the Persona 2 dualogy writes and works for.

Well, guys, its finally completed. Persona: Be Your True Mind is now—

**YOU HAVE UNLOCKED AN AUTHOR ADDED SECRET EPILOGUE**

WHAT? I didn't authorize this!

* * *

><p><strong>Persona: Be Your True Mind<strong>

"You're queen's gambit was quite unexpected, my competitor?" Philemon complemented as his opponent crushed his crude Pandora chess piece to dust.

"Smug bastard butterfly," Nyarlathotep sneered.

"Technically, your king was already forfeit several turns previous. Does that mean I have won twice over?"

Nyarlathotep saw his tipped over Takahisa Kandori chess piece and wiped the board furiously clear in anguish. "Damn guinea pigs! Goddamn guinea pigs!"

Philemon proceed to guffaw venerably at his competitor frustration. "An interesting game, when shall we play the second round, my competitor."

"Sorry to disappoint you smug butterfly, but there will not be a second round."

"You are quitting your purpose haphazardly? After one defeat,"

"No! There won't be a second round! There will be two! You heard me, two! There is sinful fruit on the vine of events deliciously ripening to a savory composition."

"How is that? That is preposterous! Two omens forthcoming is impossibility! I would have foreseen this!"

"I haven't cheated if that is what you are suggesting, my competitor! You are merely not reading the strings in the proper locations! I orchestrated two rounds in the past! I seeded the events nicely!"

"When will they occur, fiend? I need ample time to prepare my side as indicated by the rules of our game!"

"Harvest season for round two is in three years! Your choices are preset thanks to me! Fruit two, round three that is if round three exists, will be in five years time! Gather your wits; prepare your contracts, because you are in for a hellish venture redefining deformed reality!"

* * *

><p><strong>Persona: Be Your True Mind<strong>

WHAT? Shit, damn you, Nyarlathotep now you've forced my hand! Now, that I've showed it I have no choice but to acknowledge it. That's what Persona 2 has taught me and hopefully will teach you. So, yes, as indicated by the Author Added Secret Epilogue, I guess Charon must be real close to the United States, because Persona 2: Your Innocent Sin, the novelization of Persona 2: Innocent Sin, the first P2 in the P2 dualogy, will be started by me. Notice I said started. Also, to keep myself from growing tedious at the linearity of the clean cut novelization of Persona 2: Innocent Sin, I will also be accompanying that project with the start of the less monotonous in transcription but incredibly redundant Persona 3: Burn Your Dread, the novelization of Persona 3: FES with my own additions including the return of my version of the protagonist of this game. The boy with the earring, soon to be the man with the earring, Naoya Todo! He'll be there to help SEES out during the whole Dark Hour scenario in Tatsumi Island. They kind of need it like the P2 casts needs the help of the remaining Persona 1 cast to deal with the threat of Joker and his gang of misfits in a place where rumors become reality, Sumaru City! Both to be started and written in tandem, three Burn Your Dread chapters and then two Your Innocent Sin chapters in that order until the 30 Chapter novelization of Innocent Sin and the 50 Chapter novelization of Persona 3 are both completed.

Okay, with that out of the way. We are finally done. Persona: Be Your True Mind is complete! WOOH! I AM IMBEDDED IN THE ANNALS OF TIME! At having a pretty mediocre recreation with a bunch of pointlessly added shit. Well, I don't feel as bad about it anymore. And I don't think it's that awful, but I will be giving you guys my top three favorite chapters and top three worst.

Since I'm a cynical son of a bitch, we'll get the worst three out of the way. The first four chapters I've talked to death about how I think they're shit so they aren't included. One is Chapter 14. This chapter was rushed, I was in a place of mind were I was honestly really insecure about my skills at taking on this project. I just didn't think the way I wrote it was effective. The evocation and blatant shipping honestly did not help cater to my enjoyment of it. It was repetition, Kei was not Kei enough for my liking, and I wish I could have properly fashioned that flashback better it just was horrendous. Chapter 16 is a contender as well, mainly for the same reason. Shit flashbacks, poor characterization of the subject of the chapter, not enough emotional evocation properly interwoven, terribly terribly ridiculous and over the top elaboration. It sucked and I fucking hated how I did it. Kandori was generic and hammy as all hell and that pisses me off because I hate the cliché villain who sits on his ass and laughs like a maniac. But that is technically his character. Third is I don't know, I really can't think of the worst chapter so I'll just say an combination of the first four, and the initial two Lost Forest chapters, because they didn't accomplish appropriately what they needed to accomplish.

Best three are easy: Chapter 12, Chapter 15, Chapter 21. Reasons I had full control over everything, everything turned out amazing. It was swimmingly written and executed. I feel really proud of myself whenever I go back and read each of these chapters. Each beats at a perfect percussion and the rhythm is fast and loud and honestly perfect. I wasn't entertaining a linear train. I was doing what I know I can do, which is create. I created backstories. I create notions. I created revelations for these characters that have never truly had revelations before. The interactions were spot on, the dimensions are weaved as well were enjoyable, I think some when meant to be were pretty humorous which is also a plus because my sense of humor is usually too dry to accurately convey in written form. Each of those chapters embodies and accomplishes what I wanted to achieve with this story, the unfortunate aspect is that not all the chapters are as good as these three.

For a little fan interaction, if you would like list your least favorite three chapters, or favorite three chapters, or both. You don't have to explain why, but explaining why will allow me to grow as a writer so I ask nicely if you would if you care to participate. Also you can disagree with me. I have no ego. It was physically ripped out by my own hands. I also have no self-esteem. That was spiritual killed with my own self-indignation. So don't concern yourself with hurting my feelings. If you want to say the story sucks, please go ahead, I'll probably agree with whatever reasons you give that's just the kind of person I am.

Either way I hoped you enjoyed Persona: Be Your True Mind. I thank all of you who have reviewed, favorited, and put me on alerts. You guys make my day and made this fic to its end. So, you deserve the most praise and virtues. Thank YOU! I'll see you guys in the next story. Peace!


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